Shrink in Law
by coconutmandarin
Summary: Kinomoto Sakura tells her therapist about practically everything she does with her hot new boyfriend. If she only knew that the man she's having sex with is her therapist's son...
1. Forced

**Shrink in Law**

_Therapist: Yelan Li. Therapist's son: Syaoran Li. Therapist's son's girlfriend: Sakura Kinomoto. Therapist's patient: Sakura Kinomoto._

_This can get pretty interesting…

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**Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. The plot was taken from Prime starring Meryl Streep and Uma Thurman. Rights belong to Universal and their affiliates. **

**A/N: This is the revised version.**

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**One**

**Forced**

_Tokyo_

Sakura Kinomoto was tired. It was well past midnight yet instead of sleeping, she was sitting at her dining room table in the spacious apartment she shared with her best friend, desperately trying to finish the last of her papers. Working overtime for the law firm was something she rarely did but ever since they made her a partner, it had somehow become a requirement. The harassed clients, the endless paperwork, the court appearances…it was all a part of the job. Idly stirring more sugar into her third cup of coffee, Sakura looked up at the clock and wondered where her roommate was.

_Right_, she thought angrily, _I stay home on a Friday night to do _paperwork _while she's god-knows-where with that insufferable, stuck-up… impeccable, gorgeous-_

She stopped. "Okay Sakura," she muttered, "that's _Tomoyo's _boy-toy, not yours." She added more sugar into her coffee.

At twenty-five years old, Sakura had few male friends, which meant no boyfriend, which definitely meant no love life. It wasn't that she was ugly, because she was far from it. But zero time, lots of work, wrecked relationships, and little patience for finding love had made Sakura build a wall around herself that separated her from any eager admirers. She was lonely of course, and inside she fantasized about fairy-tale romances where she'd meet a handsome stranger who'd carry her away so they could live happily ever after, but Sakura was far too prideful to admit that she, a realistic, pragmatic _lawyer_, would ever dream of such things.

And in her opinion, it was her shitty luck to have an idealistic _fashion designer _for a best friend.

Sakura was almost done with her work when the lock turned and in walked her roommate. With a pale face, long, wavy black hair, and large, amethyst-colored eyes, Tomoyo Daidouji radiated a vivaciousness and grace that few possessed, even at two in the morning.

"Oh Sakura," Tomoyo sighed in a soft, melodic voice, "I leave you here at eight and six hours later you're in the same position? It's a weekend! Do this later!" She walked over to her roommate and began to snatch the papers away.

"Hey!" Sakura snapped, "What do you think you're doing? I need that!"

"Not now you don't," Tomoyo replied, as she pried the papers away from Sakura's grasping hands.

"Oh no you don't," Sakura snarled, "you cannot come in here after six hours and take away my stuff without telling me about your date!"

"It wasn't a _date_, Sakura," Tomoyo said exaperatedly, "Eriol and I just wanted to talk about how we were going to market my fall collection."

"Oh it's Eriol now?"

Tomoyo blushed slightly as she finished snatching the rest of Sakura's papers from her and walked away, Sakura right behind her.

"Business chats do not last six hours!" Sakura said loudly as she traipsed behind Tomoyo. "I know for a fact that the restaurant where you two went closed at eleven. Where were you two for the last three hours, huh?"

Tomoyo mumbled something incoherent.

"Sorry? I didn't quite catch that last part. Why don't you just-"

"Okay, okay! I fold! It's too late to stand up to your damned interrogation antics! We went back to his apartment and had a few drinks!"

Sakura stopped. A dark look crossed her face as she said in a quiet, menacing voice, "_What_?"

"Sakura," Tomoyo began hurriedly, "I know it's a stupid thing to do to just go back to some random guy's house and have a drink with him and ordinarily I would not do any such thing but Eriol is a nice guy and I know for a fact that he would not-"

"_You know for a fact_?"

"Yes! Eriol is a gentleman, he would never-"

"_This_," Sakura snarled, "is _precisely _the kind of _moronic _person that I come across as a prosecutor. '_Oh, he was so _nice_! I just _know _that he'd never do anything bad!_' Who knows, Tomoyo? Maybe that powdery stuff in your drink was just sugar! And the next thing you know-"

"Sakura!" Tomoyo snapped, "I understand your reasoning and I appreciate your concern but I am right here! I am _alive_. And please, Yelan-san would never introduce me to a psychopath. She's a _therapist_!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Oh right. Forgot about your precious shrink, who's so good at 'fixing' people that you came out worse than when you went in!"

"Did I now?" Tomoyo growled threateningly.

"At least before you knew not to go into the apartment of someone you barely knew."

"Well then, maybe you can do me a favor and analyze the analyst!"

"What?"

Tomoyo closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Sakura," she began, "I've been noticing your lack of, um, _companionship_, and I really want my best friend to be happy-"

"Get to the point."

"-sanforyou."

Sakura blinked. "What? Something about…no love-life, appointment, Yelan-san..." She froze as comprehension dawned. "Did you just say what I think you said?" She hissed menacingly.

"Um…no?" Tomoyo squeaked.

"TOMOYO!"

"Please, Sakura!" Tomoyo pleaded. "Realize that this is for your own benefit!"

"And how does seeing a _shrink _benefit me? Do I _look _like I'm insane?"

Tomoyo didn't say anything.

"Okay don't answer that!" Sakura snapped.

"Sakura, she's not going to evaluate your sanity! I want her to help you find a _man_."

"I don't need a man."

"Everyone needs a man."

"Everyone is not you, Tomoyo."

"Sakura!" Tomoyo shouted, "I don't care whether or not you _want _to go. You are _going_, or I swear to Kami-sama I will set you up on a blind date!"

There was a pregnant pause before the fire in Sakura's jade-green eyes was extinguished and Tomoyo knew she had won. The battle, at least.

"Fine. _Fine_." Her shoulders slumping, Sakura sat down wearily and looked up at the ceiling. "Why do you do this to me, Tomoyo?" she asked.

"Because I love you and I want you to be happy."

"So sending me to a shrink will make me happy?"

"Indirectly, yes."

Sakura ceded. "Alright. It's your money after all."

There was a silence.

"Who said?"

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**So some changes were made in this chapter. Sakura's a little sharper, a little less desperate. And maybe a few other changes but I'll leave you guys to find out as you read on.  
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	2. The Shrink

**Two**

**The Shrink**

Marunouchi is one of Tokyo's oldest business districts, with tree-lined avenues and office buildings that exude a sense of class, sophistication-and especially old money. Walking down the street, Sakura couldn't help but feel a sense of longing. Even though she had a high-powered position at one of the top law firms in the country, Sakura had always wanted her own law offices in a respectable part of town like this with less stress and more relaxation time.

But of course, fickle Fate never had a perfect destiny planned out for you. Instead of strolling around looking for empty office buildings, Sakura was trying to find the office of a Li Yelan.

_So the shrink can work her shrinkiness on me._ Sakura huffed. _Thanks in part to her omnipotence Daidouji Tomoyoi, _she thought bitterly.

Sakura glanced down at the card in her hand. "Suite 241…that should have been…" She looked up at the office in front of her to see the numbers _260 _gleaming in the sunlight.

"Dammit! I went the wrong direction!"

More than a little irritated, Sakura spun around on her heels and stomped down the sidewalk. A few minutes later, she managed to find her way to a considerably large white building. Sakura glared at the gold letters glimmering on the door:

_Li Yelan, M.S._

_Clinical & Counseling Psychology_

_Suite 241_

She peered furtively through the glass doors, observing the surroundings. It seemed like a normal enough office: the spacious room consisted of a secretary's desk manned by two women who were too busy to notice a woman whose face was pressed up to the glass, along with a few chairs and tables with magazines on them.

_It's the hallway, _Sakura thought as she eyed the corridor decorated with black and white photographs suspiciously, _it's the hallway and where it leads to that you have to worry about._

She was too busy contemplating the horrors of Li Yelan's office to notice that one of the secretaries had gotten off the phone and was now walking towards her, a look of confusion and suspicion on her face.

"Excuse me," the woman asked coolly, "but may I ask what you are doing?"

Sakura jumped. "Oh, I have an appointment with Dr. Li." She looked at the secretary straight in the eye, knowing exactly what the woman was thinking: _You don't need to see a therapist to know that you belong in an asylum._

"I take it that you are Kinomoto-san?"

"Yes."

The woman seemed reluctant to let Sakura in. "Follow me please," she said curtly.

Following the secretary, Sakura was led to a large room at the very end of the corridor. It was spacious, tastefully decorated in warm brown hues with a large picture window that looked out on a small garden of blossoming cherry blossom trees. It was a far cry from the skyscraper where Sakura worked that overlooked the busy streets of downtown Tokyo.

"Kinomoto-san?"

Sakura turned. Standing by the doorway was a middle-aged woman, her tall and slim figure dressed modestly in a gray pantsuit that was obviously as expensive as it looked. Tomoyo had said that Li Yelan was in her mid-fifties, but the smiling woman standing in front of Sakura looked ten years younger, with her aristocratic features and erect posture. Her amber eyes emanated a sharp intelligence that Sakura knew was not to be fooled in any way, and her bearing was that of one raised with privileges not bestowed on any ordinary person. Sakura couldn't help but feel a mixture of envy and intimidation.

Li Yelan came forward, holding out a perfectly manicured hand. "I'm Dr. Li, but you can call me Yelan."

Sakura took her outstretched hand. "Kinomoto Sakura."

"Please, sit. Would you like anything to drink?"

"I'm fine."

"Kinomoto-san-"

"Sakura."

Sakura knew she was being less than cordial with her clipped sentences but she couldn't help but feel as though she was preparing for a battle of wills between herself and the sophisticated woman in front of her. As if sensing this, Yelan sat down across from Sakura and fixed her eyes on her.

"Before we start Sakura, give me some background about yourself. Who are you?"

_As if Tomoyo's big mouth didn't spill my entire history to you._

"There's nothing to tell. I'm twenty-five years old and I'm an attorney with Nakamura, Itou, and Kinomoto."

Yelan smiled serenely. "It's not often that my patients are lawyers."

Sakura raised a questioning brow, and Yelan took it as a sign to explain.

"You see Sakura, the personality profile of a lawyer is that of a person who is focused, determined, no-nonsense, and goal-oriented. Lawyers work with people in order to build up either their defense or prosecution, but they are still of independent minds and seek to protect themselves in such a competitive field as law. Just by looking at you and talking to you I can tell that those qualities apply to you as well. Do you agree?"

"I've never taken the time to think about it," Sakura replied, her tone slightly cool. Yelan merely smiled.

"But thinking about it now, would you agree with what I just said?"

"Yes I do, but I also think that you possess those personality traits as well. Am I correct?"

Yelan blinked. "What makes you say that?"

"Any person who wants to succeed is like that."

There was a pregnant pause between the two women before Yelan sighed. "Sakura, I can guess that you did not come here willingly but please realize that I'm not out to get you. Do not think of me as a doctor that's here to inject with you drugs or perform surgeries on you. I am a therapist, and while I am free to prescribe medication for mental health reasons, I'm not here to slice and dice. I want you to think of me as a friend, a confidante whom you can confide in. I'm here to help you, Sakura, to guide you and give you advice on matters that you are frustrated with."

Yelan paused for a moment before she said quietly, "None of us are invincible, Sakura. It's alright to ask for help sometimes."

There was a silence before Sakura murmured, "I apologize for my rudeness."

Yelan smiled. "Apology accepted."

"It's just that…my best friend forced me to have an appointment with you." _The one who helped you make your fortune. _

"I assume that is Daidouji Tomoyo?"

"Yes."

"Yes, Tomoyo asked me if I could talk to you. Why is that?"

"She feels that I…need a life outside of work."

Yelan raised a brow. "What kind of life, may I ask?"

"A sex life."

It was put bluntly and Yelan let out an unladylike snort that surprised Sakura.

_So the woman has a sense of humor. _Sakura felt a little more of her tension dissipate.

"A sex life specifically, or a love life?"

"What's the difference?"

Yelan stopped taking notes on her clipboard and paused to think for a moment. "A sex life is one of physical attraction, and nothing more. Of course there's an emotional attachment during sex and leaves the person feeling content for a while, but when that dissipates the person is left with nothing. There is no sense of who their partner is as a person. A love life is one that includes everything needed to make a person emotionally and physically satiated: love, sex, friendship, happiness, etc."

She looked at Sakura expectantly.

"I'm sure my friend thinks it's the latter."

Yelan nodded. "Do you think you need a love life?"

"I know I don't have one, but I don't know if I really _need _one."

"Sometimes," Yelan said thoughtfully, "a person claims that he or she doesn't need a love life, but in reality everyone needs that sense of feeling loved, of feeling wanted."

She paused. "Have you ever been in love, Sakura?"

Sakura was silent. Had she been in love before?

_Yes, once._

That was when she was young and foolish, fresh out of law school and feeling reckless. She was insanely happy that she had made it through college, and felt on top of the world, as though nothing could touch her. And it was true in a sense; she _was _innocent, _was _naïve about the coldness of reality. He had left her life as quickly as he came into it, not even sparing a backwards glance. And with his departure, he took away the idealistic part of her, transforming her into a woman who trusted no man, felt for no man.

"No. I've never been in love."

She was lying. The fiercely intelligent eyes that were a luminous shade of green gave it all away. Yelan could read the pain in them and wondered, _What man _wouldn't _have you?_

"Being in love is…wonderful. It's such an indescribable feeling of happiness. It makes you feel on top of the world."

There was a dreamy look on Yelan's face that Sakura felt didn't suit her. Feeling the bile rise in her throat, she faked a look at the clock and stood up abruptly.

"I'm sorry Yelan, but I have to meet with a client. She's divorcing her husband for sleeping with her sisters."

Yelan blinked. "Sister_s_?"

Sakura smiled caustically. "I know. What a man-whore!" Picking up her purse, she strolled to the door and opened it. "I'll call about another appointment, Yelan!" With a small wav_e, _she shut the door behind her, leaving Yelan reeling from the sudden personality changes in her new patient. She looked down at her clipboard, where a diagnosis sheet was attached, the bottom of it filled with her comments. On top of the comment box was a list of disorders. Yelan's eyes focused on one:

Multiple Personality Disorder

"Hmm…"

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**No, Sakura does not have MPD. **

**I have never been in love so if I didn't describe being in love accurately, I apologize. Correct me.**


	3. The Predicament

**Forgot to mention I changed the location to Tokyo. Don't know why…just felt like they belonged more in their home…continents.

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**Three**

**The Predicament**

The sun was setting over the horizon, coloring the sky with vivid hues of orange and red. A look of thoughtful concentration was on Tomoyo's face as her violet eyes took in the exact shade of the sky and recreated it on paper as the fiery color of a daring ball gown which was going to be a part of her new collection. Selecting a colored pencil from the large tin box beside her, she began to sketch.

A streak of red here, a splash of orange there. While most people had a favorite color, Tomoyo did not. She loved every color of the rainbow and more. What others saw as a poop green, she saw as an elegant moss color that would befit a pair of shorts. Bright pink? Perfect for a sheer blouse. Yes, Tomoyo prided herself on her non-discriminative nature and as she colored inside the outline of her dress, she began to contemplate her life. Was she content with it? Tomoyo thought so. Her apartment, her job, her best friend, who was also her roommate…

_Wham!_

The vicious slamming of the door echoed throughout the apartment and made the pencils in the tin rattle. Tomoyo paused her coloring for a moment, eyeing the pencils that were currently trembling. In the few seconds that it took them to settle down, the forceful sound of heels clacking against a wood floor got louder and their owner appeared in the doorway.

"I take it you hated Yelan and want to strangle me for wasting your precious money?" Tomoyo asked calmly as she resumed her work.

"Let me quote your shrink," Sakura said and began in a high-pitched voice, "'_Being in love is _wonderful_. It's _such_ an indescribable feeling of happiness. It makes you feel on top of the _world!'"

"Wonderfully said! She could be a poet."

"She profiled me as a selfish party-pooper."

"Not far from the truth."

"She thinks I'm a virgin. Literally and figuratively."

"Ooh, wrong on that one. _Very _wrong on that one."

"What the hell did she do to you?"

"Fixed me after years of living with a depressingly pessimistic woman who needs to get laid."

"What the hell is she going to do to me?"

There was a pause as Tomoyo realized what Sakura was saying. Stopping her coloring, she looked up with hopeful eyes.

"You're going to stick with her?"

A tight, grudging smile graced Sakura's face. "Unfortunately yes."

Tomoyo beamed. "You won't regret it Sakura. Yelan is going to conjure up a love life for you. Did you know she has four daughters and a son? Of course she would know about all of this."

Sakura made a gagging noise. "Please Tomoyo, I don't need those kinds of thoughts about my therapist."

"What thoughts?" Tomoyo asked innocently. "I merely stated the fact that she has five children. You had to take it to the next level and imagine their conceptions!"

"Well what would you think about? Labor?"

Tomoyo ignored her as she stood up and walked back into the apartment, Sakura following.

"Hey, don't you have next Friday off?"

"No."

Tomoyo glared. "I am not going to ask you to go shopping with me. God knows after last time when you knocked over the row of mannequins at Chanel with your damned klutziness no one is going to let you near their stores anymore."

"That was a case of outside interference. That gay salesman was so big he blocked my way _and _my view. I didn't see the dolls when I tried to move around him!"

"Sakura, klutziness is programmed into your DNA."

Sakura didn't say anything. Not only did Tomoyo have the capability to charm a man over the phone just by speaking with that melodic voice of hers, she could walk in and out of a store in five-inch heels without tripping, slipping, or falling.

Sakura really cursed her luck for having Daidouji Tomoyo for a best friend.

"I know for a fact the firm gave you an off day next Friday because I called the office specifically today."

"Excuse me?"

"You would have tried to bullshit me if I asked you. Rather than argue, I decided to get the answer straight up from Nakamura-san."

"You-"

"Smart, clever, young thing? You flatter me."

"_No_-"

"Next Friday," Tomoyo said loudly, "Eriol's company is going to have a cocktail party aboard one of the company yachts in the harbor next weekend."

"I really don't care whether or not I have Friday off-"

"_We _are going to go drink and socialize with people who have the money to invest in my business."

"I don't want to help you con money out of people."

"At least I'm not a 'liar liar pants on fire.'"

"I'm wearing a skirt."

Tomoyo paused. "Okay, thong on fire."

"_I'm not wearing a thong_!"

"Something I just can't understand."

"I'm not ready for butt-floss."

"But you were ready for other activities down there…"

"_TOMOYO_!"

Tomoyo laughed. "Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Now will you be the bestest best friend in the world and accompany me to the company party?"

"Your grammar really is terrible, did you know that?"

"Sakura!" Tomoyo wailed, "the future of my _business _depends on this!"

"So does your sex life."

"I'm not doing going to the party to seduce Hiiragizawa Eriol, although the thought of it is very…"

Tomoyo stopped, seeing the look on Sakura's face. "Horrid. The thought of seducing Eriol is absolutely appalling. Yes."

There was a silence as Sakura's green eyes bored into Tomoyo's purple ones. Tomoyo knew she was debating, the gears in her head turning as she weighed the pros and cons. She could just imagine how it went:

_Going out vs. Staying in_

_Drinking champagne vs. Drinking caffeine_

_Looking like a slut vs. Looking like a prude_

Maybe a few other debates but that didn't matter. The outcome was already looking favorable to Tomoyo.

"We're going!" she announced. And without giving Sakura a chance to voice her protests, Tomoyo flounced out of the kitchen and into her bedroom.

She locked it, just in case.

* * *

"I can't believe you did this to me, Kinomoto Sakura!" Tomoyo growled.

The two women were sitting in a limousine that Eriol had sent out to drive them to the harbor. Sakura had been "pleasantly surprised" (translation: "_This guy really wants to get in your pants, Tomoyo_"), but Tomoyo was far too distracted to care about fancy cars and pick-up tactics. Her best friend, her _best friend_, was wearing a dress by another designer.

"It's Nina Ricci. Your _friend_, in case you forgot?"

"That's not the _point_!" Tomoyo snapped. "The point is that we're going to a party, where I am to _showcase _myself and my works and _you _are supposed to help me by wearing my designs but _nooo _you wear _another designer's piece_!"

"It looked good."

Tomoyo didn't say anything but just let out an angry huff. She couldn't deny the fact that Nina Ricci (a woman who she was only _semi_-friends with) had created something that turned Kinomoto Sakura from no-nonsense lawyer to ethereal goddess. A knee-length, cream-colored number with a delicate gold Chantilly-lace overlay and a wide V-neck edged with the lace, the dress accentuated Sakura's slim figure and her long legs.

Dress like a slut indeed.

"Do you think I look alright?"

Tomoyo turned to look at Sakura. In a split second, the charismatic, high-powered lawyer and been transformed into a vulnerable, insecure young woman. The hopeful look on Sakura's face made Tomoyo feel guilty for the caustic remarks she had said earlier and she sighed in defeat.

"You look beautiful," she said truthfully.

A genuine smile appeared on Sakura's face. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Tomoyo reached over to clasp Sakura's hand. She gave it a light squeeze.

"That bracelet I let you borrow?" she said, nodding towards the glittering string of diamonds wrapped around Sakura's slender wrist.

"Yes?"

"Guard them well, alright? Don't want to lose it or break it when you're at some guy's house after the party and getting it on."

She laughed as the limousine stopped and she hurriedly opened the door and jumped out in an attempt to avoid a sharp slap from Sakura.

"That wasn't funny Tomoyo!" Sakura snapped.

"Oh look!" Tomoyo squealed, ignoring her best friend, "Eriol's up there waiting for us! Let's go."

Grabbing Sakura's arm, Tomoyo began to forcefully pull her up the ramp connecting the dock ground to the yacht. Sakura followed obediently, but only because her attention was currently on the yacht. Or rather, cruise ship. The boating vessel was gigantic, almost like a floating skyscraper on its side. Glowing paper lanterns were strewn across the top of the yacht, lighting up the dark night sky and revealing figures of people milling about. Over the hum of conversations the strains of a violin and cello could be heard, playing classical music. Sakura was in awe.

_What kind of a fish has Tomoyo landed herself? _

The "fish" was standing at the top of ramp, patiently waiting for Tomoyo as she mercilessly dragged Sakura behind her. Tall and slim with a pale complexion framed by dark-blue hair and deep blue eyes glittering from behind wire-rimmed glasses, Hiiragizawa Eriol was a man that radiated quiet intelligence combined with old-world charm. It was easy to see why Tomoyo had so easily trusted him and gone to his apartment.

_I would have too_, Sakura thought grudgingly.

"_Konbanwa_, Tomoyo." Eriol greeted as he bowed. "_O genki desu ka_?"

"_O kage-sama de_. I believe you remember my roommate, Kinomoto Sakura?"

Eriol turned towards Sakura. "I'm pleased to see that you came, Kinomoto-san," he said. "Tomoyo was very eager for you to come and support her. This cocktail party is going to benefit her and her business tremendously."

Sakura smiled in return. "I trust that you'll see to that, won't you Hiiragizawa-san?"

Eriol laughed. "Shall we go up?"

He offered a hand to Tomoyo, allowing Sakura to free herself and discreetly step behind the pair as they climbed the stairs leading up to the deck. It was so obvious that they liked each other, but were too shy to do anything about it. Snorting in amusement, Sakura strained her ears to eavesdrop on the lovebirds' conversation.

"You look beautiful Tomoyo, as always."

That just became the best pick-up line of the century, coming from Hiiragizawa Eriol's mouth. Sakura could just visualize the blush creeping across Tomoyo's face as she heard her reply softly, "_Arigato_."

But he was definitely going to need a few more of them if he wanted to get past first base with Tomoyo.

Sakura dully followed the pair onto the deck, who were deep in conversation.

_I can't take this_, she thought and interrupted loudly, "Tomoyo?"

Tomoyo looked up. "Yes?"

"I'm going to let you and Hiiragizawa-san go proposition people without me hindering that, okay?"

Tomoyo impatiently waved her hand in response as she went back to listening to some obviously very fascinating anecdote that Eriol was telling her. Rolling her eyes, Sakura walked to the empty bar, where a lone bartender was busy popping bottles of bubbly gold champagne and filling flutes that were whisked away by various waiters.

"Do you think you could pause your bottle-popping for just a moment and make me a margarita?"

The bartender looked up, a slightly harassed look on his face. "There are about a hundred people on this yacht. I have to pop and pour enough bottles of champagne to intoxicate them until midnight. Do I look like I can make you a margarita?"

Sakura blinked. Whatever happened to _service_? She opened her mouth to retort but was beaten to it by someone else.

"You never speak to a lady like that, Yoshima."

Instantly, the angry look on the bartender's face turned to one of shock. "M-my god, Li-san! _Gomen nasai_! I didn't no-"

"Noticing me doesn't play a part in this. Make the margarita and then apologize for your disrespectful behavior."

"Of course, sir!"

The bartender quickly put down the unopened bottle of champagne and began to mix Sakura's drink. Intrigued, Sakura turned around to see who the voice belonged to. When she did, she found herself speechless.

Standing in front of her was probably one of the most handsome men she had ever seen in her twenty-five years of life. With messy brown hair, brilliant amber-colored eyes, and clean-cut features, Sakura found herself gaping at the male specimen towering over her. It was like seeing a male model in the flesh.

_Hopefully with brains._

"I apologize for Yoshima's rudeness," the man said in his deep voice, "but I'm afraid it's been a very repetitive night for him. He really is a nice man."

"That's…alright…" Sakura replied dazedly, managing to find her voice. The man's eyes were locked on her own, and the intensity of his gaze was unnerving her.

"Have you been here long?"

"No…about ten minutes or so."

"So you haven't suffered too much yet, I hope?"

"I suffered before I came here."

The man smiled, a smile that in Sakura's opinion could make all women within a five-mile radius of him strip if they saw it. Unconsciously, her hand moved to the strap of her dress before she realized what she was doing and quickly retracted it.

_Good god this must be a sign that I'm going to lose my job and become a stripper soon. _

"Why did you suffer before the party?"

"I didn't want to come," Sakura said simply.

"Oh? Why not?"

"Not in the mood to be on some rich bastard's yacht among conniving businessmen."

The man's eyebrow raised slightly. "Rich bastard? How can you call the owner of this yacht a bastard if you don't even know him?"

"Because he's a businessman."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Sakura matched his stare. "Do you know what this country is?"

"What?"

"We are just one large playground for businessmen and money-hungry corporations that corrupt our government and our economy. Everything can be bought and sold here, as long as the price is right. Ordinary citizens like you and me are conned out of money everyday by the people surrounding us, who love our pocketbook more than they do us."

Sakura glanced at the expensive-looking Cartier watch strapped to the man's wrist and corrected herself. "Ordinary citizens like me, rather."

The man sat down on the stool next to her and surveyed her with his piercing eyes. Sakura felt like she was being X-rayed with his penetrating stare but she forced herself to keep eye contact. She hated losing.

"Are you trying to say that I'm one of those people?" he asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Perhaps."

"My opinion is," the man began, "Large corporations are the foundation of our economy. Without them, normal things that you and I take for granted wouldn't exist. If anyone's at fault, _we _are. _We _are the ones that encourage them by paying for their wares and services. _We _keep them alive."

Oh yes, this man definitely had brains.

"We place our trust in them only because we think that they are doing what they are supposed to do. It's them that are corrupt and abuse their powers, not us."

"So why do you place your trust in companies if you think they're run by corrupt and deceitful conmen?"

There was an amused glint in the man's eyes that challenged her and too late Sakura realized that she got into an argument she couldn't get out of. The pregnant pause between them was interrupted by the quiet clink of a glass that Yoshima set before her.

"Here's your margarita, miss. _Gomen nasai_ for my rude behavior."

"You're fine," Sakura said coolly, her eyes still on the man sitting next to her. There was an overpowering magnetism about him that captured and held her attention, and Sakura knew that it was far from healthy. Eager to get away, she stood up.

"I'm afraid I have some important matters to attend to." She said. "Much thanks for helping me get a drink and for that…delightful conversation."

"Anytime," her companion replied, that same amused smile on his face. Sakura fought the urge to wipe it off. The last thing she needed was to be carted off by security for assault. Turning on her heel, she began to walk away but his voice stopped her.

"You know, if you have dinner with me tomorrow night you can get more drinks and delightful conversations. That was just a taste."

She looked at him, standing by the bar and dressed sharply in black, the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to reveal tan skin. Any other woman would have said yes in a heartbeat, but Sakura wasn't any other woman.

"_Kekkou desu_, but I'm afraid I have a date tomorrow." She thought for a moment before adding, "With my husband." And she allowed herself a triumphant smile at the slightly crestfallen look on his handsome face.

Yes, she was definitely a "liar liar pants on fire."

* * *

The party ended a few hours later at midnight, precisely the time the bartender predicted that he had to intoxicate guests until. The yacht was docked after a sail in the harbor, the trash and champagne flutes were being picked up by the crew, and there were only a few people left on board. Hiiragizawa Eriol sighed, rubbing his eyes. Introducing Tomoyo to various business executives was hard work, but the satisfaction of knowing he had them in the palm of his hand made it all worth it. Climbing the stairs up to the deck, he caught sight of a figure sitting alone at the bar. Recognizing the man, he walked over to join him.

"I believe that the party was a success."

The man looked up at him. "Convinced enough people to invest in your girlfriend's fashion business?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Yet."

"Yet," Eriol agreed, a smile creeping onto his face. "Many thanks to you and your mother for introducing me to her."

"I'm having second thoughts about letting you near my mother's patient."

"And I'm having second thoughts about letting you _be _around women."

"Excuse me?"

"Oh Syaoran, that woman you were chatting up here?"

"Yes…"

"That's Tomoyo's roommate. Best friend. Cousin. Whatever."

The man named Syaoran frowned. "Roommate?"

"Yes, Syaoran, roommate. That's when two or more people live together-"

"I know what a roommate is Eriol!"

"Obviously not."

Syaoran ignored him. "What I don't understand is, if she's married…why would she be living with Daidouji-san?"

This time it was Eriol who frowned in confusion. "Married? Kinomoto-san is single."

There was a silence as Syaoran contemplated the significance of that fact. "She turned me down for dinner tomorrow night because she said she had a date," he said slowly. "With her husband."

Eriol stared at Syaoran for a moment. Then he burst out laughing.

"Your amusement with my predicament is doing wonders for my ego, Eriol." Syaoran said dryly.

"Your predicament? Yes, I could see why you'd call it a predicament. Since when did women turn down dates with you? Oh did you get your ass fried."

"I'm going to fry your ass if you don't shut up."

"Fry? Or fire? Because if you fire me from your company Li Syaoran, you're going to burn. Your mother will make sure of that too."

Syaoran grunted in response. His mother _would _make sure of that.

"But since I am such a good friend and have served you loyally for the past few years as your CFO, I'm going to help you get the girl."

Syaoran snorted. "Do not give me advice on girls Eriol, as I see that you and Daidouji-san are like middle-schoolers. Doubt you even know what a vagina is."

"Excuse me," Eriol replied indignantly, "but I've had plenty experience!"

"That's a knee-slapper."

"Kinomoto Sakura is like a box with a lock. You don't have the key to that lock."

"And you do?" Syaoran retorted.

Eriol smiled, a Cheshire-cat grin that unnerved his friend. "No, but I know someone who does. And that someone, through me, is going to help you get Sakura."

* * *

**I feel like this chapter is more like the old version of this story-it has a little more humor in my opinion, but it's still mixed with some profoundness. For those of you who speak Japanese, tell me if those phrases were right. **


	4. Him

**Four**

**Him**

Li Yelan was a very successful therapist. Not only was she adept at understanding the complex workings of the human mind, she was a naturally compassionate person who genuinely cared for her patients. One of her means of becoming acquainted with her patients was to converse with them outside of the office, without the overburdening knowledge that they were in an official psychiatric clinic being analyzed by a shrink. It was one of those special moments now that Yelan was conversing with Daidouji Tomoyo, a short, impromptu call between old friends.

"Progress," Tomoyo declared, "has been made. The woman went out to a party with me for the first time in months!"

Yelan laughed. "I'm glad to hear that Tomoyo, but I doubt that it was because of our one appointment that Sakura agreed to go out with you."

Tomoyo sighed. "You're right, I was doing more than I should have to manipulate her into coming."

"See?" She chuckled. "What party was this?"

"Oh it was more like a business meeting. Eriol was introducing me to possible business partners."

"Oh yes! Syaoran mentioned something about that to me. How did it go? Did you see him?"

"It went well, I think. A lot of people there have heard of me and I think they're pretty eager to finance my ventures. No, I didn't see Syaoran."

"Ah, well, you'll see him soon enough. Eriol's enchanted with you darling, at this rate he's going to propose any minute."

Tomoyo laughed. "Really?"

"Syaoran tells me he never stops talking about you!"

She giggled. "Well that's good news, I hope."

"Very," Yelan agreed.

There was a knock on the door as a woman poked her head in.

"Dr. Li? Kinomoto-san's here to see you."

"Send her in," Yelan waved imperiously before turning back to Tomoyo. "Sakura's here, I'm going to have to talk to you later. See you next Friday?"

"Of course."

"Good." She hung up the receiver just as a willowy auburn-haired woman stepped into the room.

"I have to tell you Sakura," Yelan said as she poured herself and her guest a cup of green tea, "I was surprised you came back."

Sakura shrugged in response. "Tomoyo is just trying to help me, as are you. I…might as well take that help, much as I hate to admit it."

Yelan smiled. "Acceptance is the first step to recovery. Er-in your case recovery from…"

"Lack of sex."

Seeing the look of disapproval on Yelan's face, Sakura sighed and rephrased her statement. "Oh alright, lack of love too."

"A _relationship_, Sakura. Love _and _sex, in simple terms." Yelan cleared her throat. "Anyway, Tomoyo said you finally went out last weekend to some party you two were invited to. First time in months, she said."

_Damn Tomoyo's big mouth!_

"Yes…"

"Was it fun? Did you enjoy it?"

"We went sailing in the harbor. Normally I'd love that kind of activity except I became…meddled in a few affairs."

Yelan raised a finely plucked eyebrow. "Oh?"

"The man who managed to get me a drink also ended up arguing with me about the corrupt way our country works."

Yelan laughed. "Sounds like my son. The boy never lets up on an argument."

"Must have been a handful, I presume?"

"Oh, definitely."

* * *

"We're going out tonight."

Sakura looked up from her papers. "_We_?"

Tomoyo beamed. "We. You, me, and Eriol."

"I refuse to go to your lovers' tryst and be a third wheel."

"I didn't ask you to become a voyeur."

"Nor did you _ask_."

Tomoyo beamed. "That's right! Daigo in an hour. And get out of those disgusting sweats! They make my skin crawl." She faked a shiver and left the room.

_I'm going to need what those Americans call a super-size bottle of Tylenol._

An hour and fifteen minutes later Sakura and Tomoyo arrived at Daigo, late due to Tomoyo's nit-picky obsession over how she looked.

"God Tomoyo," Sakura had remarked, "are you looking to get laid tonight?"

"Hmph!" Tomoyo scoffed in reply, "I have a better chance than you do."

"Of what? Getting STDs?"

The two women were still feeling slightly vindictive towards each other when they entered the restaurant and pushed through the crowd of people waiting for a table.

"Reservation please?" The maitre d' asked haughtily.

"Hiiragizawa."

The man scanned the list for a moment before beckoning a young woman over. "Table 18." Lowering his voice, he hissed, "Big money!"

Nodding, the waitress smiled widely at Sakura and Tomoyo, a smile that reminded Sakura of a hungry predator's.

_What is this, feeding time? _

They followed the young woman to a table by the window, the entire time listening to her annoyingly chirpy voice as she talked.

"Your guys' table is like a 'Who's Who!'" She gushed.

_I need that Tylenol._

"Fabulous," Sakura snapped as they finally arrived the table and she plopped down unceremoniously in the seat diagonal from Eriol, who was currently watching the scene with mild curiosity. Understanding Sakura's curt tone, the waitress quickly bowed and hurried away.

"Only fifteen minutes late Tomoyo, you're getting better," Eriol remarked as Tomoyo took a seat next to him.

"I'm glad you realize that _she _made us late," Sakura said. "It makes me approve of you."

Eriol raised an eyebrow. "Did you not approve of me before?"

Sakura tilted her head to the side as she thought. "Mm…let's just say that Tomoyo's choices are…"

"Excellent." Tomoyo interjected as she looked at Sakura, a wide smile on her face but her eyes flashing dangerously.

"Yes, in normal-people speak that would be 'shitty.'" Sakura translated.

Eriol laughed. "Alright, scale from one to ten for me?"

Sakura thought for a moment. "Eight."

"Oh that means good, right?"

Sakura smiled. "My scale goes from five to ten, Hiiragizawa-san."

"I'm afraid that places you as average, Eriol."

Sakura froze. She recognized that deep, masculine voice from somewhere…

"Oh Syaoran!" Tomoyo exclaimed, "I didn't know you were going to be here!"

The man smiled. "Eriol asked me to come. An even number of people is always better than an odd number."

Sakura sat immobile in her seat, startled at the sight before her. The handsome man that she had mentally undressed a few nights ago was staring down at her, as gorgeous and electrifying as ever. She could practically feel the room temperature hit boiling.

_Tylenol. Where's that damn Tylenol!?_

"Sakura, this is Li Syaoran." Eriol introduced. "He's the CEO and president of the company I work for, and a very close friend of mine. Syaoran, this is Kinomoto Sakura. I'm sure you recognize the name."

If Sakura wasn't too busy being shocked at Syaoran's presence, she would have noticed the slightest flicker pass through both men's eyes as they exchanged brief glances. Tomoyo, however, observed it and made a mental note to ask Eriol later.

"Kinomoto of Nakamura, Itou, and Kinomoto?" Syaoran asked. "Of course, best in the business! I'm charmed."

He reached for Sakura's hand and gently raised it to his lips. The second his mouth brushed the back of her hand, it was as though an electric shock went through Sakura. Never once did Syaoran take his bright amber eyes off of hers, and when he finished and straightened, he smiled down at her benevolently, eyes dancing. Like the rerun of an old movie, the memories of their first meeting crashed upon Sakura. She had been insulting and rude, haughty and conceited. She wanted to crawl under the table.

"Did you know that it was Syaoran's yacht the other night Sakura?" Tomoyo asked, previous suspicion filed away and smiling happily.

"It was your boat?" Sakura asked, her voice faint.

"Yes," Syaoran sighed, "I'm afraid it was." His smile, if possible, seemed to grow even wider.

Sakura felt her face burn. Not only was she a bitch, she indirectly called him bastard too. A rich bastard, but a bastard nonetheless.

"I'm surprised I didn't see you last night, Kinomoto-san," he continued innocently, "my little boat is too small for people not to bump into each other." He shared a secretive glance with Eriol, who was watching their exchange with amusement.

_Your little boat…to hell with little you prick! _

"Is everything else you have little?"

A silence fell on the table as everyone stared at Sakura. Syaoran's eyebrows had slightly shot up, and a look of shock was on Tomoyo's face. And if she knew Eriol well enough, she would know that the slightly twisted expression on his face was because he was trying not to roar with laughter at Sakura's far from innocent retort.

Syaoran's looked fixedly at her. "I can't judge that myself…" he said slowly, "but perhaps you would like to investigate for me?"

Sakura found herself speechless. She just had her own wisecrack thrown back at her, only ten times more lurid and suggestive. Why the nerve of the man! When she got her hands on him-

"Are you ready to order?"

The tension at the table dissipated when the annoying waitress reappeared, pageant-smile in place.

"I'm not ready yet," Syaoran said, "but you can take their orders first. I'll flip through this very quickly, just for you." He flashed a grin at the young woman, who immediately blushed up to her hairline.

For some odd reason, Sakura felt her insides boil.

_Oh you fucker._

And then,

_Probably a good one too._

She clenched her jaw. Why did she keep thinking these perverted thoughts!?

"Are you feeling alright?" Syaoran asked, his eyes gleaming brightly in the dimness of the restaurant. Sakura couldn't help but feel as though he knew exactly what naughty thoughts were running through her head.

"Perfect," she said curtly.

Shortly after ordering, their food arrived. Eager to flee, Sakura took advantage of the opportunity and tried to finish her food as fast as she possibly could without looking like a glutton. Ten minutes later, the task was accomplished and she stood up.

"Oh that was nice," she remarked, "but I'm afraid it's back to work now!"

Tomoyo gaped at her. "Back to work? You're going back to those papers instead of spending quality time socializing?"

"Oh I'm sure you'll be socializing later Tomoyo," Sakura murmured. She picked up her purse and pushed out her chair, but a hand on her arm stopped her. She didn't have to know it was Syaoran due to that electric tingle shooting through her body.

"You can't leave now, Kinomoto-san, I was going to ask you for a favor."

"Oh I'm afraid you've exhausted your favors for the day, Li-san," Sakura replied acidly.

Syaoran smirked. "I'll pay you this time."

Furious, Sakura wrenched her arm out of his grasp and stormed out of the restaurant.

Syaoran turned to Eriol and Tomoyo, the former grinning wickedly and the latter resting her chin on her clasped hands, her eyes closed and eyebrows knit together in anger. "I really do have to ask her for a favor."

"Of course you do, my man," Eriol said heartily, and resumed eating his sushi.

Getting up, Syaoran made toward the exit but was stopped by Tomoyo's hand on his arm. He glanced down at her in surprise.

"When Sakura's angry…" she began, "she doesn't think straight."

"Yes…"

"Be responsible for the two of you and use protection please?"

Syaoran didn't know whether to look shocked or laugh hysterically, but he forced himself to keep a straight face as he said, "Don't worry Tomoyo, nothing like that."

He left the restaurant, prepared to run left and right down the street searching for Sakura. To his relief, she was a few feet from the restaurant entrance, getting into a taxi.

"Kinomoto-san!"

She turned. Seeing that it was Syaoran, her face contorted into a look of disgust and she slammed the taxi door shut. Syaoran rushed forward and banged on the window.

"Wait! I really do need to ask you something!"

The window rolled down as the driver leaned over and yelled, "Hey piss off! The lady doesn't want to be bothered!" Rolling up the window, the man pulled away from the curb and sped off.

Syaoran swore.

_If you think you can shake me off that easily Kinomoto Sakura you're wrong.

* * *

_

"Is it just me or are you and Syaoran planning something?"

Eriol looked at the woman sitting next to him, her face expressionless.

_The woman really is observant._

"Why do you ask?"

"I saw the look that passed between you two."

Eriol chewed his sushi thoughtfully. "Well…"

"I don't like it when men lie to me, Eriol." She said quietly.

He sighed. "Syaoran met her that night of the party."

Tomoyo looked up. "What?"

"They met at the bar. He asked her out but she turned him down. Said she had a husband."

"But Sakura doesn't-"

"I know." He set his chopsticks down. "I told Syaoran."

"Is that why he's actively pursuing her?"

"Is he?" Eriol asked innocently.

"Oh don't bullshit me," Tomoyo snapped, catching Eriol off-guard with her sharpness, "I see the way he looks at her."

"Like a piece of meat or like a woman?"

Tomoyo smiled. "Like a woman."

Eriol sighed in relief. "Oh thank Kami-sama the man has learned!"

"You do know that she's currently seeing his mother right now?"

Silence fell between the two as Eriol contemplated the consequences of the situation.

"Isn't she a relationship counselor?"

"Slash sex therapist."

Eriol stared. "Oh hell."

* * *

"There's a client waiting for you outside, Kinomoto-san."

"Who is it?"

"Li Syaoran, ma'am."

Sakura froze. What the hell was the moron doing here? Her eyes narrowed for a moment, before a wicked look crossed her face.

"Tell him forty-five minutes."

Forty-five minutes turned into two hours when finally, Li Syaoran was granted access into Sakura's office. To her irritation, the man looked as cool and calm as though he never had to wait longer than he was forced to.

"Good morning, Kinomoto-san." He greeted, that benevolent smile on his face. He was dressed in a dark suit, his neatly knotted tie a contrast to his messy hair.

"Why aren't you busy conning money out of the innocent?"

"So I can harass a particularly feisty one."

"You sure you can handle the heat?"

Syaoran grinned. "Some like it hot."

Sakura sighed exasperatedly. "What do you want?"

"Tell you the truth, I don't know which part of you I want first…"

"Let me rephrase that," Sakura snarled. "_Get out_."

"I fear for my life, I really do."

"I _will _call security on you."

Syaoran snorted. "I own half of Japan, Sakura, no one's going to arrest me."

"Don't call me Sakura!" she shouted.

"Why not? We're going to become acquaintances, might as well use each other's names."

"Acquaintances?" Sakura hissed.

"Oh, acquaintances not enough?" Syaoran chuckled. "Alright, lovers it is then. I always thought it sexy when two people have an illicit affair. I mean, after all, you have a husband, don't you?"

The challenging glint in his eye silenced Sakura for a moment.

"No," she said finally, "I don't."

Syaoran faked a swoon. "What? You _lied _about your marital status? How could you Sakura?"

"Because _you _were asking for a date." She snapped.

Syaoran looked offended. "I'll have you know that lots of women would _die _for a chance to go on a date with me."

"Oh, you mean drag queens? I'm afraid they don't fit the bill Li, they have penises." She laughed. "Sad thing is, they're probably bigger too."

He shrugged. "Hey, my offer to let you investigate is still open."

"What do you want?" Sakura asked coldly.

Syaoran took a seat across from her. "Are you strictly a prosecutor?"

"Yes."

"Entia Corp, my company, suffered a setback in earnings last quarter due to some underhanded business dealings dealt to us. I want that setback undone."

"How big are we talking?"

"Triple your usual charges."

Sakura thought for a moment.

"No."

Syaoran's eyebrows shot up. "_No_?" He asked in disbelief. "I'm offering to pay you three times your usual amount, which is sky-high, mind you, and you're _refusing_ me?"

Sakura gave him a tight smile. "I'd like benefits with that."

"Benefits? Hell, I can give you benefits right now, free of charge."

She laughed. "In your dreams, Li. No, I want something else."

"Name it."

She leaned forward. She was so close that she could count the golden flecks in Syaoran's eyes, so close that the smell of clean pine was heavy around her.

"When I win your case," she whispered, "I want you-"

His eyes widened.

"-to stay the hell away from me."

She leaned back, surveying him, satisfied with the look of utter surprise on his face that she had elicited.

"Do we have a deal?"

Syaoran's amber eyes locked with her own green ones, his stare piercing. "And if you lose?"

A wintry smile graced her beautiful features. "I don't lose."

He smiled in return. "Neither do I."

* * *

**Love it? Hate it? Judge it according to its own merits, don't base it on the old version. **


	5. Business

**Five**

**Business**

Miyazaki Sasara had worked at Entia Corporation for years. Placed there specifically by her old friend Li Yelan as secretary to her son Syaoran when he became the chief executive of the company, Sasara had fondly watched her godson grow from a boy into a man. She knew Syaoran well-and she knew exactly how attractive he was to the female species. Therefore, when Kinomoto Sakura appeared in front of her desk on a busy Friday afternoon, Sasara knew the routine.

"I'm here to see Li Syaoran."

Not bothering to look up, Sasara said curtly, "Li-san is busy at the current moment and cannot meet with any visitors."

"Kindly phone his office and tell him that if he wants to get his money's worth he will see me."

Sasara froze. _Get his money's worth? _She looked up, and almost let out a sigh of relief. An attractive auburn-haired woman in a prim business suit was standing stiffly in front of her, her green eyes glinting with impatience.

_Definitely not a prostitute. But another gold-digger…?_

"Do you have an appointment?" Sasara asked discourteously.

Sakura smiled frostily. "I'm his lawyer."

"I was not aware that Li-san needed the assistance of an attorney in any of his endeavors."

"Clearly you have not been au courant with the times. Please inform Li-san that I have arrived."

Without a backwards glance, Sakura turned on her heel and walked across the marble lobby towards the elevator, the cries of the secretary resonating behind her.

"Hey! You can't just go up and see Li-san! Hey! Come back here!"

But the gold elevator doors had already closed and through the transparent glass Sasara could see the elevator shoot up to the top floors of the building.

_The nerve of the woman!_

Picking up the phone, Sasara tapped her foot impatiently until a deep voice answered.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry to bother you Syaoran, there was a woman claiming to be your lawyer that just went up to your office. I'm so sorry I couldn't stop her, I know you don't like being bothered by your old flames, but she just rushed off and-"

Much to Sasara's surprise, Syaoran laughed.

"Syaoran?"

"Oh Auntie, you really do take your job seriously, don't you?"

Sasara scoffed. "Of course I do Syaoran, your mother put me here for a reason and that was to protect you from all those predatory women out there!"

"Auntie I think I'm capable of handling the harshness of the world and I sincerely thank you for your efforts but don't worry, the woman is my lawyer."

Sasara blinked. "Lawyer? Since when did Entia need a lawyer? Have we gotten into any trouble?"

"Oh just a little lying and some cheating-you know, the usual."

"If it's the usual, why do we need a lawyer this time?"

There was a silence on the other end of the line.

"Let me get back to you Auntie, my lawyer's here." And the line went dead.

Sasara slowly put the phone back into its cradle. She had known Syaoran all his life and even though he was adept at maneuvering around situations and manipulating people, Sasara had developed an eye for his tactics. She sat there for a long while before picking up the phone again. Three rings later, someone answered.

"You're lucky I don't have an appointment right now."

"Even if you did I'd make you take a break."

* * *

"Let me get back to you Auntie, my lawyer's here." Syaoran placed the phone back in its receiver as the door to his office opened and Sakura walked in.

"I never placed you as the type to keep in touch with your relatives."

Syaoran smirked. "Then maybe I should find myself another lawyer if you aren't competent enough to read people."

Sakura scoffed. "Please do, I would be happy to leave you."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Because you're offering to pay me three times my usual fees."

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "You want to know why my secretary refused to let you come up?"

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." Sakura quoted.

"She tries to protect me from gold-diggers."

"Obviously she mistook me for one of your usual quick lays."

"Why would you think that about me?"

"Why wouldn't I think that about you?"

"So you're saying I'm charming and incredibly attractive to women? Hm, maybe you are competent."

"Only to incredibly moronic females."

"You're calling yourself moronic?"

Sakura thought of how a few days ago she was mentally undressing the man before her and wondering about his skill in bed.

"No, I'm not."

_My nose is growing. I'm going to burn in hell for telling a lie._

As if reading her thoughts, Syaoran's amber eyes bored into her own emerald ones. "I think you're a liar."

Sakura struggled to keep her composure. "But your opinions are of no importance to me and for the past fifteen minutes you have paid me a couple hundred dollars just to argue with you. Are you ready for _business_?"

Syaoran grinned. "Oh am I ready for business…"

* * *

There was no reply on the other end.

"Are you still there?"

"Yes, I'm here."

"Well?"

"It's certainly strange for Syaoran to hire a lawyer for something so minor and then to evade a question about it…"

"Do you think he's finally showing some interest in a woman?"

"Are you trying to say that my son is a homosexual, Sasara?" 

"You're misinterpreting what I'm saying, Yelan. We all know how women flock to Syaoran and how much he hates being chased for his money and looks. I'm just saying that maybe finally there's someone out there that's not interested and he's…intrigued."

Yelan snorted. "A snub would be good for Syaoran. You said she was cold? Imperious?"

"Yes."

"Definitely not the kind of woman who would mindlessly chase after my son, no matter how handsome, rich, or charming he is. I want to know who she is. Look up all the lawyers in the area, will you?"

"Dammit Yelan, you're asking the world of me. How many people are in Tokyo? Where do I start?"

She thought for a moment. Mindlessly thumbing through her calendar, her name suddenly landed on a name: _Kinomoto Sakura_.

"Try this," she said slowly, "Nakamura, Itou, and Kinomoto."

* * *

**And the plot thickens! I wonder if I'm digging myself a grave by moving so fast…**

**P.S. I just saw that little video thing on the homepage where the monster's all nice to the girl and then feeds her to its children. Um...wow that was highly disturbing. **


	6. Fool's Gold

**Even though last chapter was where the differences between the old version and the revised version began to really show, I feel as though this chapter is where I truly veer away from it. I've taken a couple things from the old version to put in here but otherwise, this is pretty much starting to become its own story now. Same plot, of course :)

* * *

**

**Six**

**Fool's Gold**

Kinomoto Sakura was fuming. It went far beyond the fact that she had woken up late that morning, so late that she had barely enough time to groom herself properly (_groom _herself, not try to look drop-dead gorgeous. She would never dress for Li. Really). It went beyond the fact that because she was late, she had run to the door of the elevator and in the process, broke the heel off her Manolo Blahniks (and they were her favorite pair too! But really, she wore them for herself. Not for him). It went beyond the fact that because she was so late, she wasn't able to get her usual cup of Starbucks, or that upon entering Entia Corp headquarters, some smarmy old lady tried to stop her from seeing Li (really, she should have appreciated the effort. It's not as if she wanted to see the jerk anyway).

No, Kinomoto Sakura was enraged because she had just found out the reason why Li Syaoran wanted her to sue Entia Corp's rival…there was absolutely no reason.

"I signed up to do _what_!?" She shrieked, jumping up from her chair and knocking it over in the process.

"Hey don't get your panties in a twist," Syaoran said soothingly.

"No!" Sakura yelled, "I cannot believe you tricked me into taking up this case! Sue Tanaka Enterprises because they _stole a plot of land_!? How the hell does that even fit into what you originally said about 'underhanded business dealings dealt to us'!?"

Syaoran shrugged. "They cheated us out of a plot of land through underhanded business dealings."

Sakura had taken to pacing about the room and as she walked back and forth, she pulled her auburn hair so that it quickly disintegrated from a somewhat neat bun into a wild mess. "I can't even make a case for that Li!" She said exasperatedly, "What am I supposed to tell the City Attorney? '_Hello sir, I would like to file a criminal complaint against Tanaka Enterprises because, oh, they stole my client's plot of land that my client _never owned in the first place!?'"

"Correction, I had a hold on that plot of land. The president of the company that owned it and I are good friends."

"Even better Li! You and your buddy attempted collusion! Wait until I tell that to the City Attorney. '_But your client never owned the plot of land._' '_Oh, minor technicality sir! My client had a hold on it because they attempted to monopolize each other's services_!'"

"Hey, in business you have to do what you have to do!"

Sakura spun around. "You know what Li? Maybe I should go file that criminal complaint with the City Attorney. Maybe instead, he'll direct that complaint towards you for having friends with benefits!"

"You obviously don't understand the term 'friends with benefits.' Maybe I should show you."

"THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR YOUR PERVERTED JOKES!" Sakura roared, grabbing the glass paperweight on Syaoran's desk and chucking it at his head. In her fury she missed and it shattered upon striking the wall a couple feet away from her intended target, leaving a large dent in the plaster.

"Obviously you wouldn't be any better as a baseball pitcher than you are a lawyer," Syaoran remarked dryly.

"Fuck you Li, _fuck you_. I'm not taking your case. No way am I going to make a fool of myself and my firm by dragging my ass to Tokyo's most prominent lawyer to file a complaint because your _alpha-male_ complex was wounded."

Syaoran shrugged. "Suit yourself. After all, if you walk out on the case I bank." Upon seeing the look on his lawyer's face, which was a mixture of puzzlement and pure hatred, he clarified. "Our deal?"

There was a pregnant pause before a look of utter despair came across Sakura's face and she groaned aloud. Of course she remembered that deal…it was somewhere…in the back of her mind…

_"When I win your case, I want you to stay the hell away from me. Do we have a deal?"_

"_And if you lose?"_

"_I don't lose."_

"_Neither do I."_

How could she have ever let it slip her mind? It was the reason why she first took up the case-she wanted to get a restraining order on the bastard.

_Oh but are you sure that's the _only _reason you took the case_? A sly voice asked inside her mind.

_Yes, and the tripled salary._

The voice made a _tsk tsk _noise. _I'm your conscience, Sakura, I _create _your thoughts. You can't lie to me._

_I never lied._

_Really? I think you're more interested in where the money would come from-a wallet, which would be in the back pocket of his pants, which rests on his ass, which is attached to that _fine _body you know you're just _itching _to feel up under those formal clothes of his-_

_Shut up._

_Oh, you want to take a different path of thought? Okay, I can do that. Let's go back to the pants. If you take them off..._

"YOU'RE DONE!"

"I'm sorry?"

To her horror, Sakura found that she had shouted the last product of her thought, which was meant for her annoying (yet correct) conscience, out loud. She quickly recovered her composure.

"Our deal was not complete. You never specified what would happen if I lost."

"But I'm going to now-"

"But I'm afraid now is too late. Your statute of limitations is up my friend, and in layman's terms that would mean the deal has expired." She smiled genially and made for the door. "It was extremely unpleasant working with you Li-san, I hope you get sued sometime in the near future and I hope I will be the prosecutor!"

She slammed the door shut behind her, leaving Syaoran sitting at his desk, a mild expression on his face. She had thought she had won-how amusing.

He picked up the phone and punched in a few numbers. After a few rings, someone answered.

"Yes?"

"Give me Tomoyo's number."

"Why?"

"I'm going to reel in the fish."

"Ah…"

A few minutes later, Syaoran was talking to Tomoyo.

"Syaoran! How'd you get this number?"

"Eriol. Listen, I have a favor to ask of you.

"Does this involve Sakura?"

Syaoran hesitated for a moment. "Yes."

"Ask away then!" Tomoyo replied cheerfully.

He blinked. "Well…"

When he hung up the phone five minutes later, he was smiling. He had to laugh at the irony of the situation.

* * *

When Sakura arrived back at her apartment half an hour later, she was in a significantly better mood than earlier. It didn't matter that she had just forfeited a large amount of money by giving up the case-she had decided it was worth it to outsmart Li Syaoran. Pity it had to be that way, but she was a lawyer climbing the ranks to the top echelons of her profession-the money would start pouring into her already snug coffers soon enough.

_Are you pitying the loss of money or are you pitying the loss of the man? _Her conscience asked.

Sakura ignored it.

Humming to herself, she dropped her purse and keys on the table and walked to her room to undress. If there was one thing she looked forward to at the end of the day, it was the relief from getting out of her scratchy wool suits and into her flannel pajamas-the ones Tomoyo claimed were shapeless and did nothing for Sakura's stick-like figure. She promptly shredded Tomoyo's expensive silk negligees after that.

She was hanging up her jacket when the phone rang. Unzipping her skirt, she picked up the receiver.

"_Hai_."

"Sakura?" It was Tomoyo.

"Why aren't you at home sitting on your ass like you usually do?" Sakura greeted unceremoniously. "Are you out with Eriol?"

"I do not '_sit on my ass_'as you so eloquently put it when I'm at home! And yes, I'm out with Eriol at meetings with potential sponsors for my business."

"When are you going to be done?"

"By early evening. Meet me for dinner at Cha Cha Minami Aoyama at six-thirty. Dress nicely-I don't want to be in the company of someone who looks like street trash when my business is about to take off."

"What the fu-"

But Tomoyo had already hung up the phone and Sakura was left holding the receiver with an offended look on her face.

_The nerve of the woman!

* * *

_

"Aren't you afraid she'll dress badly just to spite you for that?"

Tomoyo looked at Eriol and smiled. "I know Sakura better than anyone in this world. She'll never go to one of Tokyo's chicest, trendiest hotspots and damage her reputation by looking like a slob." The grin faded from her face.

"What's the matter?"

"Oh just thinking about what would happen if Sakura found out her best friend was conspiring to set her up with a man she despised."

"What could possibly happen?"

"Besides being gutted by the woman who sleeps in the room right next to mine? Absolutely nothing."

* * *

She had selected a form-fitting, long-sleeved cashmere sweater with a deep scoop-neckline and belted it over a billowing, knee-length silk skirt.

_If this is what street trash wears, I should just quit my job and become a full-time hobo. _Pleased with her outfit, Sakura walked confidently into the restaurant and was seated by a smartly-dressed waiter.

"Are you alone, miss?"

"No, I'm waiting for someone."

A few minutes later, that someone appeared. Only it wasn't the _someone _Sakura was expecting.

_Oh you have _got _to be kidding me._

Striding to her table was Li Syaoran, the messy brown hair and confident gait of his walk unmistakable. Every woman in the room was watching Syaoran-there were the predatory young women who were attracted by his good looks, the middle-aged matrons who were reminded of their younger, single days, and even the senior women, who were eyeing Syaoran speculatively.

_Kami-sama hates me._

"Why hello Sakura!" Syaoran beamed as he neared her table. "Fancy seeing you here. Are you alone?"

She thought of Tomoyo calling her to tell her to go to dinner, and she knew it had been a ploy. She had been set up-whoever asked for it, she didn't know. All she knew was that both Tomoyo and Syaoran were involved.

"I'm on a date Li," Sakura spat.

"She can wait," and he sat, the grin still on his face.

"She? I don't go on dates with women."

"Not now you aren't."

"You're not my date."

"You wound me."

"I intend to."

"Must you be so vicious?"

"I enjoy drawing blood." She made to walk away, but Syaoran's arm shot out and took a gentle but firm hold on her wrist. Feeling that same thrilling shiver that she had felt the night he had kissed her hand, Sakura couldn't help but stop.

"Please don't touch me, I don't want to be infected with any sexually transmitted diseases."

He smirked. "You're making an effort to remove my hand, I see," he said sarcastically. Glaring at him, Sakura wrenched her arm out of his grip. Deciding that giving him one moment would get him forever off her back, she relented.

"You have five seconds…go."

"Have dinner with me tonight as payment for refusing to take my case. I promise it won't be as dreadful as you think it will be."

"What did I say about the statute of limitations being up today Li?"

"Yes, but we both know that neither of us gives a damn about what you learned in law school." His eyes were glittering in the dimly-lit restaurant, taunting her. It was no longer a matter of who was right and who was wrong; it had become a challenge, a battle between the sexes to see who could outwit the other. Realizing this, Sakura slowly sat down, never taking her jade eyes off Syaoran's amber ones.

"_One _dinner."

Syaoran merely smiled.

* * *

"Now that wasn't too unbearable, was it?"

They were in front of her apartment, despite Sakura's attempts to prevent Syaoran from walking her to her front door. Surprisingly, the date had gone well after the food arrived. They had talked about meaningless things, and Sakura found Syaoran knowledgeable about everything from books and art to politics and law.

_Not entirely unexpected_, Sakura thought grudgingly, remembering their first meeting where he had mercilessly argued with her over politics and the economy.

"If you hadn't spent the entire time pretending you knew everything," she responded primly, "why yes, I believe it would have gone a lot better than it did."

Syaoran laughed, a deep, sonorous sound that made Sakura's skin tingle. Pleasantly.

"Stubborn to the last bit, aren't you? Oh Sakura, you represent the very stereotype of a lawyer: quick-witted, acid-tongued, and a liar through and through. You enjoyed tonight, admit it."

"You can't admit something when you've already spoken the truth."

"But you haven't."

"What does it matter to you whether or not I lied about enjoying our dinner?"

Syaoran leaned forward and said quietly, "It matters very much to me…"

The temperature around her suddenly shot up and Sakura found her palms sweating. She turned to the side and made for the door, inserting her key into the lock.

"Alright! I admit it, the dinner was great. Satisfied now?"

"No."

Sakura sighed exasperatedly, continuing to make a fuss over her keys and avoid eye contact with Syaoran. "What now, Li?"

"First of all, it's Syaoran."

"Yes, I know that."

"Then act like it."

She turned around, an indignant look on her face. "Are you _commanding _me to do something, _Li_?"

Syaoran grinned. "What, can't stand being on the bottom? Being the submissive one?"

"I'm sure you would know all about being on the bottom Li…" Sakura responded slowly.

"What can I say, the view's better looking up than down."

They stood there looking at each other, the sexual tension between them crackling with energy. Sakura marveled at how the man standing before her, someone who she at once loathed yet lusted for, could make her feel emotions she had bottled up long ago.

_Yelan was wrong. I'm suffering from lack of sex. _

She finally broke the silence by clearing her throat and saying, somewhat unsteadily, "What else were you going to say?"

"Hm?"

"When someone says 'first of all,' that usually means there's a second part to it."

"Oh yes…somebody told me you like opera."

"Cut the bullshit," Sakura snapped, "that 'somebody' is Tomoyo."

"Believe what you want, but I have two tickets to the Tokyo Opera this Saturday, performing _The Marriage of Figaro_. Accompany me."

"You're not used to _asking_, are you?"

"When the person is not used to _giving_, I use any means necessary."

"And you believe demanding me to accompany you would accomplish the task?"

Syaoran shrugged. "I have my own private box at the New National Theatre Tokyo. Take it or leave it."

She took it.

* * *

**And Syaoran's working his way into Sakura's life! I just totally eliminated the courtroom trial because it would drag this story on too long and quite frankly…it'd be difficult for Yelan **_**not **_**to know that Sakura was prosecuting for Syaoran.**


	7. Mirror Image

**I just realized that by skipping the courtroom trial a beneficial plot detail appeared :)**** Sometimes my own laziness pays off.

* * *

**

**Seven**

**Mirror Image**

"I hear your love life has been reignited."

It was a blunt statement, said precisely and straight the point. There was no veneer of cool professionalism that was expected of a medical specialist present; instead, Li Yelan's eyes were glittering mischievously, the corner of her mouth turned upwards, the glee in her voice discernible.

"I suppose my darling best friend told you that," Sakura responded dryly.

"Please don't tell me that you murdered her in her sleep with a butcher knife."

"You have quite the imagination, Yelan."

"Well I doubted that you would react docilely when you found out Tomoyo was scheming to set you up with a man you despised."

Sakura blinked. "What did that woman tell you!?"

Yelan shrugged. "Oh stuff about how you hate some man, but said man wants you, and they conspired together to have you go on a dinner date with him."

Sakura sniffed. "More or less."

"So…?" Yelan prodded.

A sigh slipped out. "I'm not sure if you can call this guy my boyfriend yet because we went out to dinner, which _wasn't _voluntary as you know, and then he took me to the opera."

"Did you have _fun_?"

She thought of the endless bickering during dinner and how it contrasted so greatly with the night at the opera, when the only noise made was by the singers on stage.

"I guess," she replied dully.

"Tomoyo tells me he's quite the charmer."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I guess he is…but that may or may not be a good thing."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that he may or may not know to keep his pants on."

Anger flashed in Sakura's emerald-colored eyes, and Yelan thought of their first meeting. She had asked Sakura if she loved once, and despite the pain in those figurative "windows to the soul," she said no. Yelan now knew for sure that it was a lie. Sakura had loved someone-and that someone had broken her heart.

_No wonder she's wary of entering another relationship. Goddamn I really do get all the nut jobs!_

Not that she considered Kinomoto Sakura a nut job.

"So…what are you going to do?"

Sakura frowned. "I don't know. I guess I won't force anything. Just go with the flow, see what happens. I don't think it'll hurt…right?" The question was filled with aching uncertainty.

"No, I don't think so dear," Yelan replied gently. "Go on another date. I want to know more about your mystery man."

They finished the session a few minutes later. As soon as the door closed, Yelan leaned back in her couch and rubbed her forehead. One important matter not yet resolved but tended to-now onto another one. She picked up the phone and began dialing.

"Entia Corporations, this is Miyazaki Sasara."

"Any luck?"

"Nothing at Nakamara, Itou, and Kinomoto."

"Really?" Yelan asked, surprised.

"I talked personally with Nakamara-san. He said that his firm is not handling any cases for Entia Corp right now."

"Is there any possibility that he _wouldn't_ know whether or not a case is being handled?"

Sasara scoffed. "If they're handling a case for us, I'm pretty sure that everyone who matters would know. We _are_ Entia Corp after all."

"You have a point."

"What do you want me to do now?"

Yelan sighed. "Oh I don't know. Keep searching I guess. Contact other major firms in the area-Syaoran isn't the kind of person to go to the small-timers. Competent ones rise to the top, that's his philosophy."

"Three guesses as to who instilled that belief in him."

She hung up. Whoever could be the anonymous female lawyer that was possibly involved with her son?

* * *

"_I will be keeping my eye on our government's money, and off your perfectly formed ass."_

"_You noticed."_

"_Even accountants have imagination."_

He had taken her to see _Casino Royale_. She had declared that she detested spy movies and under no circumstances would she go see a silly film where the protagonist was too perfect to be real.

"How is James Bond perfect?" Syaoran had asked.

"Because he's cultured, he's intelligent, he can shoot, and he can charm all females." She had retorted.

"I asked about James Bond, not about me."

The smile was on his face even when Sakura sneered at him in reply because in the end, she had agreed. And even though she was thoroughly enjoying watching James Bond and Vesper Lynd admitting their love for each other in a villa in Lake Como under the Italian sun, she couldn't help but wonder about the similarities between her and Syaoran's relationship and theirs.

Vesper felt contempt for Bond when she first met him-Sakura wanted to castrate Syaoran when she first met him.

Vesper and Bond were always exchanging sexually-charged banter-Sakura and Syaoran were constantly at each other's throats.

Vesper and Bond fell for each other-

She couldn't finish that comparison yet. But at the rate at which they were going, Sakura knew that it would be completed. And it would match the two previous ones.

_You make it seem like a bad thing_, her conscience interrupted again.

_Because it can be._

_You're a coward._

_I am not!_

_He hasn't even screwed you and already you're crying uncle._

_Yelan's my therapist, not you._

_Hell, therapists play your conscience when you throw away money to visit with them. And obviously nothing's really coming out of it, right _honey

The last part was ignored because at that moment, Vesper and Bond burst into the bedroom, clothes soaked from the rain outside and their mouths fused together. They fell onto the bed but in the intensity of their animalistic urges, they fell off, bringing a nearby object onto the floor with a resounding crash.

If Vesper Lynd and James Bond's relationship was a mirror image of hers and Syaoran's, they had better be having sex in a king-sized bed when the time came.

* * *

It was evening. Everyone in Yelan's office had left already, leaving her alone in the complex to do what she always did at the end of the day: reviewing the tapes and notes of each patient. It was a tedious job and at times irritating (some patients' problems were beyond ridiculous), but it was what made Yelan the best of her field. As she scanned the box of tapes on her desk, Yelan's eyes automatically landed on the gray one marked _Kinomoto Sakura. _

_What did she say again? _Shaking her head, Yelan reached for the tape. _I'm getting old, _she thought regretfully. _Soon I'll need to retire and rely solely on Syaoran and the girls. _The thought of her five children warmed Yelan's heart. _All of them married and with children...except for Syaoran. I need to find someone wonderful for him. Someone who will love him as much as I do. _

Her thoughts strayed once more to the mysterious woman. Whoever could it be? A perplexed expression on her face, she popped the cassette into the tape player and listened to the conversation.

_"Any new developments between you and this man?"_

_"We went to see a movie last night."_

_"What movie?"_

_"That American import about a British spy. _Casino Royale_."_

_"Did you enjoy it?"_

_"I did, but then I became bothered."_

_"Why?"_

_"I couldn't help but contemplate the entire time about the similarities between my relationship with this man and the relationship between the two characters in the movie. It echoed everything that happened and is happening between us…and possibly foreshadows what will happen."_

_"I see."_

"_Not to mention during the sex scenes, I felt the urge to jump him. In the back aisle of a darkened movie theater filled with people."_

"_Oh, so you're one of those people who enjoy doing it in places where you might be caught."_

"_No! I mean, I tried it once…but we got caught."_

A laugh that Yelan recognized as her own.

"_Why would I ever do it again?"_

_"Well, I can't tell you the answer to that but I can tell you that it was a natural reaction when you felt the urge to 'jump him.'"_

_"Natural reaction?"_

_"When you're in a dark setting, and there is a sexually stimulating factor, your body is aroused."_

_"But...I have never felt it so..._strongly _before."_

_"You're attracted to him." _

Yelan smiled, remembering the look of denial on the young woman's face.

_"My dear, your fantasies are not sick and you should not feel guilt over them. Most people do and it ruins their conscience. It is natural to have sexual thoughts about someone who you are attracted to."_

_"I'm not sure that I'm attracted to him."_

_"Really? I bet you that the next time you come see me, you will have reevaluated your opinion."_

The tape ended. As she extracted it from the tape player and gingerly placed it back into its box, Yelan found herself smiling. The more she saw Kinomoto Sakura, the more the young woman grew on her. Just as she wanted Syaoran to find somebody, Yelan wanted Sakura to be happy too. She sighed and sat down on her chair heavily. Scanning the calendar in front of her, her eyes landed on the schedule for next week.

_Friday. Let's see what you think then, Sakura.

* * *

_

**I used _Casino Royale _because I adore that movie.  
**


	8. It's Official

**So I got flamed for the first time…and it was the most hilarious thing I've ever read. At least have the guts to NOT be anonymous.  


* * *

**

**Eight**

**It's Official**

The minute Kinomoto Sakura walked into her office, Li Yelan knew something was amiss. To any other person it would not have been apparent because she just strolled in as though it was an ordinary day, her head held high and her fitted clothes immaculately pressed-the picture of perfection, one could describe it as. But Yelan knew something was wrong because Sakura never walked into her office with the overbearing air of a haughty socialite. She may have walked in proudly, confidently, even aggressively, but never as though the world was falling apart around her and she didn't give a damn.

"Something wrong, Sakura?" Yelan asked, peering at her patient.

Sakura sat down, her back ramrod straight. As she did so, she brushed off imaginary dust from her cream-colored pants, crossed her legs, and folded her hands in her lap. The entire routine took about a minute before she cleared her throat and cocked her head to the side. "Pardon?" She said finally, her voice politely neutral.

"I asked, is something the matter?"

"Oh nothing, why would you think that?" Sakura replied airily. "Honestly, I didn't do anything bad." The words were coming out of her mouth faster now. "It's not as if I killed a person, you know. I didn't murder anyone, didn't rob anyone, nothing! I did nothing that'll land me in jail for a first-degree account of crime, I-"

"Sakura, what did you do?" Yelan interrupted.

"Iforcedhimintohavingsexwithme." Sakura replied without missing a beat.

"What?"

"I forced him into having sex with me," she whispered.

Yelan shook her head in confusion. "Sorry dear, you're going to have to speak up. I'm afraid my hearing isn't as sharp as it used to be."

"I SLEPT WITH THE BASTARD!"

Yelan blinked.

Pause.

Silence.

"Which bastard?"

Sakura glared. "There's only one, Yelan!"

"_Oh_…that one."

"You make it sound as though I'm some whore."

"Well, you made it sound as if it was the most scandalous thing in the world when it really isn't. What's so bad about it? You didn't sleep with a total stranger and you didn't bed Tomoyo's boyfriend. He's _your _man, after all."

"What's so bad about it is that I didn't want it!" Sakura wailed.

"You're a terrible liar." Yelan commented coolly as she poured herself a cup of tea, "You wanted it the moment you agreed to stay at that dinner you were _tricked _into. And then you agreed to go to the opera with him, to the movies…honestly, it was time he paid you back with a romp in the sack. You mustn't let a guy believe you're an all-you-can-eat buffet, you know. No coming back for complimentary seconds!"

"Please don't use an all-you-can-eat-buffet as an example. The sexual innuendo's killing me."

Yelan smiled coyly. "I guess we all know what you two were doing."

"Yelan!" Sakura admonished, shocked at her therapist's blunt assessment of the situation and her outright lack of dignity. "This isn't a 'you-take-me-out-I-take-you-out' exchange. You do not do a guy a favor by saying yes to his requests for dates and then have him return the favor by screwing you!"

"Why not? It's perfectly simple and uncomplicated. Wish I had the same experience."

Sakura's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"Don't tell me the source of your anger is because he had absolutely no skill."

"NO!"

Yelan burst out laughing. "And the answer is apparent."

"No…" The paleness of Sakura's face was replaced with a bright red flush. "He wasn't…bad…at all…" She put her head in her hands. "Oh Kami-sama…"

She thought of last night-the low words murmured seductively against her neck, his warm hands caressing her body, the urgency of their heated passion. It had been rough, wild…and completely exhilarating.

_They had gone out to dinner at one of his favorite establishments. She hadn't wanted to go with him in the first place (she had decided that if she wanted to do herself good she'd stay away from riffraff like him), but he had cajoled her in his charming way, luring her with promises of good food, chilled wine, his company, and utter relaxation. Nevermind the paradox presented in the last two._

_So she took advantage of the situation and downed more wine than was necessary. Granted, it wasn't enough to intoxicate her completely, but it gave her the confidence to break her social boundaries. Translation: be a little more rowdy than usual._

_"Here you are," he said, dropping her off in front of her apartment._

_"I would thank you for being a gentleman, but then I'd burn in hell for telling lies." _

_Alright, that wasn't _too _unusual for her when she was around him._

_He snorted. "As if you're not already going to hell for telling lies on the job?" he asked, referring to her profession as an attorney._

_"That's what defense does." She fired back. "I'm a prosecutor, remember? I tell it like it is."_

_"You mean you tell it the way you_ think_ it is."_

_"Which _is _the way it is."_

_He chuckled. "So tell it the way it is with my case."_

_She groaned. "Not that again! Don't tell me all these dates are to get me to accept your pathetic excuse for a case."_

_He shrugged. "Not entirely, but I can't deny that it is _one _motive."_

_She peered at him. "One motive? How many more are there?"_

_He looked at her. "Only one more."_

_"And what, pray tell, would that be?"_

_He didn't answer her but Kami knows she had already figured it out. How could she have missed the playful implications of his words, the way his eyes were almost always trained on her, the occasional moments of seriousness underneath all the easy-going charisma? And the ever-present sexual undercurrent between them-she'd be a fool to deny it. _

"_Do you always lead a girl on in that confusing manner of yours?" She murmured, subconsciously moving closer to him. _

"_Never. Most women find it pretty straight-forward."_

_Her stepping forward resulted in her being pressed up against him, the soft curves of her body melding into the hard planes of his. Slowly, her hand began to trail up his front to play with the buttons of his starched dress shirt, the cool plastic of the circular disks a source of fascination for her alcohol-induced mind. The next thing she knew, her fingers had gently slid the top one out of its hole, allowing her a view of the top of his toned chest. Her eyes strayed upwards to his amber ones, a perfectly innocent look on her face. _

"_I should castrate you for your smart-ass remarks."_

"_Only you could say something as sadistic as that while undressing a man, even under the influence of alcohol." _

"_You like it," she whispered, her lips ghosting over his exposed skin. She was about to unbutton his shirt further when suddenly, his hand grabbed hers and he gently pushed her off of him._

"_I'd like to think that I succeeded in wooing you but I'd rather not wake up in the morning to your sober self about to butcher my reproductive organs."_

_He turned around, leaving her to stare at his back in stunned silence. _

"_Goodnight, Sakura."_

_She watched as he began to walk down the hallway towards the elevators. Of course she knew she had drank a little too much alcohol and that she was a little less inhibited than usual, but _goddamn _did she know that the liquid in her system only revealed what she had wanted to keep hidden but knew was there! _

_She stormed after him, the clacking of her heels muffled by the carpet. Nevertheless, he sensed her presence and turned to look at her confusedly._

"_Sakura, what are you-"_

_He never finished his sentence because at that moment, she jumped him. Literally._

Yelan surveyed the stiff woman in front of her. "So what happened after?"

_The door opened a crack. "Sakura? I brought home breakfast and-_Oh Kami-sama who are you in bed with?_"_

_Sakura and Syaoran bolted upright as Tomoyo dropped the package in her hands. _

_"Oh, hey Tomoyo-"_

_"It's not what it looks like!" Sakura cried as she got up, pulling the sheets away from Syaoran and wrapping them around herself. Tomoyo quickly turned around._

"_Sakura, I think you're stealing the sheets from Syaoran there."_

_But Syaoran had hurriedly dropped to the ground and managed to collect his clothes and pull them on. Tomoyo only shook her head and smiled mischievously. "I'll give you guys some privacy..." _

"And then he just…left. So now I don't know whether or not he regretted last night."

"Ah..." Yelan nodded understandingly, "so that's the root of your problem. You're scared that he regretted his actions." She paused. "You were just trying to mask your insecurities with verbal self-condemnation, weren't you?

Sakura glared. "I prefer to leave my coping devices unsaid, Yelan."

Her therapist ignored her. "Do _you_ regret last night?"

"What?"

Yelan eyed her beadily and repeated, "Do you regret last night?"

"Yes...maybe...sort of...I don't know." She ran her hand through her hair. "I guess I'd regret my actions if they sever our relationship because…" she sighed as though she was about to admit a long-suffering secret, "he is a pretty interesting character to be around."

The corner of Yelan's eyes crinkled in amusement. "If he regretted the sex that's his fault, he shouldn't have given in to your…demands."

"Demands?" Sakura intoned.

"Well what else would you call it, a formal question? I don't remember you telling me you _asked _him to have sex with you, did you?" Yelan remarked dryly.

Sakura blushed. "N-no..."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while before Sakura muttered, "You know Yelan, technically I raped the man."

* * *

When Sakura walked into the office of Entia Corporation's CEO-slash-president, she found its occupant balancing the phone in between his ear and shoulder and typing away at the computer. Li Syaoran was so immersed in his work that for a few minutes he failed to notice the woman standing in front of his door, who was getting angrier by the second.

"Your hospitality amazes me," she drawled loudly, alerting Syaoran to the fact that he had a visitor. Muttering a quick good-bye to his caller, he put the phone down and turned his attention to Sakura, who was fuming by then, all traces of distress about confronting the man she slept with last night vanished.

"You came to see me on your own accord!" He said brightly. If he was feeling any discomfort at all over the current situation he was embroiled in with the woman in front of him, he gave no sign of it.

Sakura sat down in the chair across the desk from Syaoran. "Don't read too much into it. I came here to discuss business."

His eyebrows quirked up. "You've finally decided to take up my case!" He grinned. "I'm glad last night convinced you."

She could feel her cheeks heat up and she hoped that the blush she put on that morning would disguise the color she knew would blossom over her face any minute now. "Look Li, I came here to apologize for last night. I was out of line and I'm sorry for…"

"Raping me?"

She glared at him. Even though she told Yelan that in legal terms what she did to Syaoran could be considered sexual harassment, there was no way she was going to admit it now. "Rape is defined as forcing someone into sexual acts without their consent. _You _didn't argue when I…" She trailed off but Syaoran added on.

"When you initiated physical contact, tried to take my clothes off, chased after me, attacked me-"

Sakura cleared her throat. "That's enough."

"In summary…you forced me."

"Then you must enjoy BDSM."

"Who was on top last night?"

She scoffed. "Oh you were doing a lot, weren't you?"

"I had to work for both of our pleasure, you know."

"Tired?" She jeered, "'Cause you have bags under your eyes."

"_Tired_?" He asked, scandalized.

"You want an explanation? I'll give you two. One, you're out of shape from not getting any action and two," she shrugged carelessly, "I'm just _that good_."

"There's a reason why books like 'Sex for Dummies' exist."

"Is that your bible, Syaoran?" Sakura taunted. "Do you keep it under your pillow at night?"

He shook his head, getting up from his chair to walk over to Sakura's side of the table. "I've never been the religious type because I doubt Kami-sama would approve of fornication outside of marriage."

"You're quite the sinner, aren't you?" She breathed.

By now Syaoran was standing over her, smirking down from his height. "But how wickedly delicious sin is."

Sakura slid back a little in her chair as he bent over her and rested his hands on the arms of the chair. "You know," she said softly, "I'm not sure the door's locked."

He grinned. "A little danger is exciting. You certainly know since you molested me in a public area."

"Nobody was around, it was the dead of the night-"

"Would you like an encore?"

"No." The word came out of her mouth too quickly as he leaned forward, his lips so close to her ear that when he whispered, his breath tickled it.

"Are you as good sober as when you're tipsy, Sakura?"

* * *

She was on her lunch break at work when she placed a call to Yelan.

"I was about to go grab a bite to eat but apparently you have something to tell me that can't wait until our next meeting, hm?"

"I'll pay you for the extra minutes."

Yelan chuckled before getting straight to the point. "Have you seen him?"

"Yes."

"And…?"

"_Are you as good sober as when you're tipsy, Sakura?"_

_The next thing she knew, his lips were on hers and she had her fingers tangled up in his hair as his hand slipped from her face slowly, down the side of her torso, and onto her thigh, where it slid up her skirt..._

"We've cleared up any and all misunderstandings."_ About his kinky fetishes, that's what._

"I'm glad to hear that. So I assume that you two are officially a couple?"

Sakura almost laughed out loud. She had asked Syaoran the question, and he looked at her as though she was insane.

"_And ruin my flawless reputation for dating respectable women?"_

His cheek had earned a nice red mark for that comment.

"Yes, we are officially an item."

"I'm glad to hear it Sakura. Very glad."

* * *

**So I'm not particularly pleased with how they ended up in bed (ah, the wonders of alcohol) but I really couldn't think of anything better. I even talked with Celestiana about different scenarios but in the end decided this was the most realistic.  
**


	9. Of Hidden Motives and Agendas

**When I posted the last chapter it was late at night/early in the morning and I forgot to write an important part in but no harm done I just snuck it in here.**

* * *

**Nine**

**Of Hidden Motives and Agendas**

If someone were to ask Kinomoto Sakura to describe herself in one word, she knew exactly what it would be: fearless. She was confident to the point of aggressiveness in everything she did, whether it was blatantly accusing a defendant in court or being icily condescending towards the Starbucks barista who didn't make her mocha frappucino at exactly the piping hot temperature she preferred (demanded) her drinks to be. She refused to be intimidated by anything or anyone-life had hurt her more than she was willing to admit and in response, she developed a cold exterior to combat any and all shit Fate tried to throw at her.

But no matter what, that coping device never helped when it came to Daidouji Tomoyo.

Sakura was standing in front of her apartment, biting her lip and gritting her teeth as she gently slid the key into the lock.

_Careful, careful-!_

She allowed herself a small grin when she heard the slightest sound of the deadbolt being lifted.

_Now turn the doorknob soundlessly-_

"By now I would been able to load a rifle, call the police, and prepare a cup of tea while waiting patiently for you," said a dry voice.

Sakura blanched. _Dammit!_

She turned around to run but by then the door had swung wide open, revealing a bored-looking Tomoyo, leaning nonchalantly on the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Going somewhere?"

Sakura coughed. "Oh you know…" She smiled sweetly, but faltered at the sight of her roommate whose gaze had now become slightly…cross. Tomoyo jerked her head towards the inside of their apartment.

"Get in here."

Meekly, Sakura obeyed.

"Sit."

She sat, glancing up at Tomoyo to see an indescribable expression on her beautiful face. She gave a weak laugh.

"Heh, heh, how you doing…best friend?"

Tomoyo didn't say anything, instead taking to watching her roommate shuffle her feet in uneasiness. Finally, she spoke in a voice full of wonderment.

"You made a homerun before I did."

Sakura blinked. "Uh…"

In her frank opinion, it wasn't _that _absurd that she had sex with Syaoran before Tomoyo did with Eriol-hell, if their behavior at the cocktail party was anything to go by one would think they still believed in the opposite gender having cooties. Sakura doubted they even kissed in ways that could be described with words other than "chaste."

"I can't believe it," Tomoyo declared, bringing Sakura out of her thoughts. She scoffed lightly and repeated, "I just _can't believe it_!"

Sakura glared. "What's so impossible about Syaoran and me sleeping together?"

Tomoyo laughed. "You? The epitome of the prissy, prudish, uptight-"

Sakura let out a warning growl and instantly Tomoyo changed the subject.

"But I guess it isn't _too _impossible that you two hooked up. I mean, anyone who's around you two for a minute can feel that sexual tension. It's almost _tangible_." She sighed dreamily. "I just knew you two couldn't keep your hands off each other."

Sakura drummed her fingers on the couch impatiently.

"Admit it, Sakura. I did you a favor by introducing you to that _fine _male specimen."

"Are all these horny overtures signs of sexual repression, Tomoyo? Is it frustrating you that you and Eriol haven't made it past first base that you're taking out all your romantic fantasies on me?"

Tomoyo looked scandalized. "I'll have you know that Eriol and I have gotten past first base, thank you very much!"

"Ohoho where you guys at-first base and a half? What is that anyway, tongue?"

"We've done that!" Tomoyo shrieked in frustration. "We were making out on the couch and getting caught up in the moment-" She faltered, a rosy red tinting her pale cheeks. Sakura quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes…?"

"Nothing." Tomoyo said hurriedly.

Now Sakura was really interested. "What, Tomoyo?"

"Nothing!"

"Spit it out!"

"He couldn't get it up," Tomoyo whispered, but Sakura caught it. Her jaw dropped.

"He couldn't…get it up?"

She promptly burst into laughter.

"It's not funny!" Tomoyo cried, furious at her best friend's lack of sympathy. "He was distracted by thoughts of his work-his job puts a lot of pressure on him, you know! No help to your _fuck buddy_!" She snarled.

But Sakura was too far gone, clutching her stomach as tears streamed down her face. "He…couldn't-hiccup-get it up…ahahaha that is _rich. _Just _rich_."

"At least my man didn't _bolt _out of the house this morning," Tomoyo retorted. Sakura instantly sobered.

"I hate you."

"I'm just making an observation."

"Well it's wrong! Because I went to see Yelan and she told me to talk to him and I did."

Tomoyo looked at her expectantly. "And…?"

Sakura nodded her head firmly. "It-went well!" She turned her face away to hide the oncoming blush. Tomoyo, ever the perceptive one, noticed this and stepped in front of Sakura so that her face was inches from hers.

"Something happened," she said flatly.

"W-what?" Sakura stuttered for the first time in the conversation.

"You never were able to hide anything from me. Tell me," Tomoyo commanded, "what happened?"

"I-er-nothing!"

"You're stuttering and blushing. Which means you're lying."

"Why are you so eager to know?"

"What do you have to hide from me? I saw it all this morning, Sakura. And I mean _all_."

"I don't think my relationships are any business of yours," Sakura said indignantly. Her comment went ignored because Tomoyo was engrossed in studying her intently, deep amethyst-colored eyes boring into her face.

"See something new?" She said sarcastically, unnerved by her best friend's creepy surveying.

"You have a little piece of green fuzz in your hair." She reached out to pick a green ball from Sakura's hair.

_Oh shit._

"Sakura, this looks like carpet fuzz. Why the hell would you have _carpet fuzz _in your hair unless you were rolling around on carpets?"

At this moment, Sakura's face burned a flaming red.

"Sakura, _were you rolling around on carpets_?"

Silence.

"Sakura…"

"OKAY, I WAS!" Tomoyo nearly jumped back at Sakura's outburst. "I went to confront Syaoran at his office and then we started shooting sarcastic comments at each other like we always do and there was sexual tension and then suddenly he was standing _right over me _and kissing me and touching me and I couldn't control myself and I let him do what he wanted and I somehow slid out of the chair to the floor and that's the reason why there's green fuzz in my hair because the carpet of Syaoran's office is green and _we had sex on it_!"

Tomoyo's jaw dropped at Sakura's hysterical confession.

"You guys…did it again…in his _office_?"

Sakura groaned. "Yes!"

Tomoyo didn't say anything and Sakura wondered if she was so shocked that she had nothing to say but of course, her best friend defied her expectations as usual.

"Was it good?"

Sakura looked sharply at the woman in front of her. "Excuse me?"

Tomoyo's eyes were wide with excitement. "Those American magazines I read from time to time-okay, all the time," she amended, seeing the look on Sakura's face, "says it's one of the most titillating experiences to have sex in the office! Not only does brushing all files and folders off the desk create a sense of urgency, knowing that you're in a public place and could be walked in on or heard adds a sense of _danger_."

Sakura shook her head in disbelief. "Okay, we both know Americans are exhibitionists and enjoy kinky things but that does not give you the right to imitate their style!"

Tomoyo shrugged. "Why not? Sex is universal."

Sakura tried to get up from the couch but Tomoyo's hands shot out to push her back forcefully.

"Did you guys get walked in on?" She asked, her voice low.

"Do you think I'd be able to show my face if that happened?"

"Did anyone see you?"

"Office blinds were closed."

"Did anyone hear you?"

"What's with all these questions?" Sakura cried exasperatedly.

"Oh c'mon Sakura, it's natural to scream out in ecstasy!"

"Tomoyo, this is-"

"_Did you_?"

"Yes!" Sakura snapped, "But he kissed me just as I…"

"Orgasmed?"

"What are you, my new sex therapist?"

"Did you know keeping silent during sex also adds to the pleasure?"

"Tomoyo!" Sakura yelled, "We're done here! Stop interrogating me. If you're so sex-deprived, jump Eriol. I can tell you from personal experience it's effective in initiating a physical relationship!"

Tomoyo gaped at her. "You _glomped _Syaoran?"

Sakura scowled. "It was the wine."

"You don't get drunk, Sakura. You probably just drank enough to make you tipsy but still conscious of your actions."

Sakura didn't respond and Tomoyo knew she hit the jackpot, smiling triumphantly. "Oh I'm so glad for you Sakura…you're finally coming out of your shell after that bastard."

Sakura's face darkened, but she said nothing.

"It's been what, three years since you graduated from law school?"

Sakura nodded mutely.

"About time you bounced back. Normally I'd be surprised that you jumped into a relationship after knowing the guy for less than a month…but seeing the sexual dynamics between you and Syaoran, it's not that strange."

"I'm glad you think we function well together."

Tomoyo blinked. "Who said anything about functioning well together? I just meant you two are both horny."

* * *

"According to Tomoyo…"

Syaoran looked up at his coworker, who was grinning like a Cheshire cat, blue eyes sparkling almost maliciously. It was late at night and he and Eriol were poring over sheets detailing Entia Corp's record for the month, checking what their subordinates had reported. Usually it would go by in comfortable silence, each man working on his own part of the paperwork but tonight, Syaoran knew Eriol wanted to talk to him about something other than business. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"According to Tomoyo what?"

"I could barely decipher what she was squealing in all her excitement over the phone but if I heard correctly…you and Sakura slept together. Twice, might I add?"

"I never did understand why sex was called 'sleeping together' when it really is _far _from being passive." He looked at Eriol and noted the way his eyebrows shot up. "Don't read into that."

Eriol put his hands up. "Hey, it doesn't take a genius to figure out Sakura would be pretty feisty in bed."

Syaoran growled. "Eriol…"

"I mean, she is quite the character in real life, isn't she?"

"Quite," Syaoran agreed grimly, thinking of the many blows to his ego Sakura had dealt him.

"Are you two official?"

"Not publicly."

Eriol nodded in understanding. "Your mother?"

"I have to…ease her into the knowledge that I'm dating someone. I don't want her agitated and annoying me into arranging a meeting between her and Sakura. I'd hate to think of how my mother would try to analyze her. She'd be a nervous wreck after five minutes."

Eriol thought of how Yelan and Sakura already knew each other and felt cold sweat form at his temples. He said nothing.

"Honestly," Syaoran continued, not noticing his friend's sudden shiftiness, "I just don't understand why she psychologically terrorizes all of my girlfriends. It's like she's interrogating them, questioning whether or not they're suitable enough for me." He rambled on. "She always tells me how she wishes I'd be married by now but doesn't she realize that she's the one hindering the process? She drives away every woman I've ever gotten close to!"

"But looking back on it," Eriol began carefully, "don't you think she was right? How many of them turned out to be gold-diggers?"

"The last one was an heiress, Eriol."

"To her father's company that went bankrupt two days before she met you."

Syaoran paused. "Point taken."

"If you don't want your mother to know yet…"

_More like never_, Eriol thought.

"…just do your best to be discreet about it."

"Thanks for telling me the obvious." Syaoran thought for a moment. "Although you know what strikes me as odd?"

"What?"

"The other day Auntie Sasara said my mother set her up as a secretary here so she could keep an eye on me."

"Has Sakura ever visited you here?"

"Twice. The first time when I tried to convince her to handle the Sasaki matter and the second time to…see me." He trailed off.

"Has Sasara ever seen her?"

"The first time they got in a little spat because Auntie thought Sakura was another one of my flings. I don't know about the second time."

Eriol tapped his fingers against the mahogany table. "Well, twice is already a little suspicious to someone as hypersensitive to young women as Sasara. I say just don't let Sakura visit you here anymore. We all know that if your mother got wind of a woman coming to your office all the time she'd pursue the matter to hell."

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "You got that right."

"But if you still want to have office sex, just tell Sasara Sakura's taking the Sasaki case and you two are discussing legal matters."

"Eriol!"

"Although she'd be wondering what the hell the Sasaki matter is and if she researched it, she'd find that you hired a lawyer to take care of something incredibly petty. And then she'd know that you hired a lawyer for reasons other than just getting your money back."

Syaoran sighed. "This is too complicated right now. I never did like intrigue when it involved my mother."

"Because you know she'd outsmart you."

"Shut up."

* * *

"Has that lawyer come back recently?"

"I don't know." A hacking cough interrupted the woman's croaking speech. "I've been sick this last week. Didn't go to work at all."

Yelan twirled the phone cord around her fingers. "Oh." A sudden thought popped into her head. "Do you remember what the woman looked like?"

"Auburn hair, green eyes. Very fine, delicate features-pretty young thing."

"What was she wearing?"

"Just the usual business suit-slim, that girl is."

"I see…"

"Is that all? 'Cause if I talk any longer my vocal cords will burst."

"Go take your medicine then."

She hung up the phone and sat back in her chair, thinking of everything Sasara had told her. Lawyer, auburn-haired, green eyes, slim, pretty, cold, imperious. She snorted.

_Sounds like Sakura._

But it wasn't matching up. Sakura already started dating her boyfriend while things on Syaoran's side were still murky. If he was seeing the lawyer, required interaction between the two would lead to the woman making appearances at Entia Corp enough so that Sasara would see her. Besides, she always knew when Syaoran began dating somebody-if he didn't tell her, Eriol would.

_I should call Eriol._

She picked up the phone again and started dialing. A few rings later, a man picked up.

"Hiiragizawa."

"Hi Eriol, this is Yelan."

"Li-san! This is unexpected, how are you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. How are you?"

"Great, thanks."

"I'm glad to hear it. Listen, I'm…going to have a dinner party next week and I wanted to know if you and Tomoyo could come." It was off the top of her head, completely impromptu and completely bullshit, but Yelan was always good at thinking fast.

"Let me get back to you on it but I'm sure we can."

"Good. And I tried to reach Syaoran but he didn't pick up. Do you know if he'll be…bringing anyone along?"

Eriol now knew exactly what Yelan was getting at but ever the polite gentleman, he played dumb. "Oh no, Syaoran's too busy to get attached these days."

A pause. "…I see."

"I tried to introduce him to a couple girls but he had no interest in them."

Yelan sighed. "Well, thank you for your efforts. I'll call later to see about the party."

"Oh don't bother, Li-san. I'll call you."

"Thank you."

"Good-bye."

* * *

"Who was that?"

Eriol looked up. "Your mother."

An incredulous look crossed Syaoran's face. "My mother?"

"She's probing. I guess Sasara told her about her Sakura-sighting."

Syaoran leaned back in his chair, head in his hands. "Fuck. What is it with women and gossip?"

"This isn't gossip Syaoran, it's more like a surveillance system."

"You'd think that she'd let me be now that I'm an adult," he grumbled.

"Nope." Eriol grinned. "To your mother, you're still her precious little munchkin!""

When Eriol left the building an hour later, he looked like he had been mugged.

* * *

**So now Syaoran has a motive for keeping Sakura away from his mother…but Yelan's getting some very revealing info about our girl! **

**When I finish this fic (because I WILL!), I think I'm going to do a sequel. I have quite an idea for it actually. ****But I really need to post the next chapter for ****Distorted****. I'm stuck. I can't remember what the hell I was planning for it. And I'm becoming more and more obsessed with Naruto it's taking over my life. **


	10. Breaking the Bed

**School is looming ever closer…I want to cry.

* * *

**

**Ten**

**Breaking the Bed**

Friday night saw Kinomoto Sakura at the law firm, rapidly stuffing papers into her briefcase. It really wasn't that strange of a sight; most people want to get away from the office after all, especially the night before a weekend, but Sakura wasn't in a hurry to go partying or clubbing-she was in a hurry to go _home_, of all places. She was thinking of the large Jacuzzi that awaited her, of the fragrant cherry blossom-scented bubble bath that Tomoyo had just bought, of a nice cup of hot chocolate-

_Ring!_

The shrill cry of the phone brought her back down to earth and never had Sakura prayed to Kami-sama so fervently that it not be a client on the other end. Repressing a long-suffering sigh, she reached over and picked it up.

"Kinomoto Sakura."

"How does dinner in half an hour sound to you?" A familiar voice asked.

Kami had a funny sense of humor. She got her boyfriend instead.

"Absolutely not," she said briskly.

Even though she was dating Li Syaoran now, Sakura saw no point in toning down her attitude towards the man. As far as she was concerned, he was still the obnoxious ass he had been when she first met him and therefore, her treatment of him warranted no adjustment in the slightest. It was a harmonious arrangement: Syaoran would annoy Sakura to no end, and she would respond in the caustic, biting way that was so characteristic of her.

"It's a Friday night Sakura, what are you going to do otherwise?"

"Get a much needed rest from work and you."

"Have I been tiring you out?" Syaoran teased.

The only thing that kept Sakura from screaming a frustrated "Yes!" was her pride. The man was insatiable in bed, but she wasn't about to admit that she couldn't handle his…friskiness. Heaven knows it drove her crazy, and not in the bad sense.

"It's not me who goes to work late everyday nowadays," she retorted.

"I don't jump out of bed cursing like a sailor because I overslept."

Ignoring the comment, Sakura settled for changing the subject instead. "No," she said firmly, "I'm not going out to dinner."

"Too bad."

The door to her office swung open and leaning against the frame was Syaoran, a smirk on his face. Sakura's jaw dropped.

"What the hell!?" She exclaimed, putting the phone down.

Syaoran shrugged. "Thought I'd surprise you."

"I hate surprises!" She snapped.

He clucked his tongue. "You hate a lot of things. Get your stuff, let's go."

She ended up following him to his car, muttering curses the entire way. He just took her acidity in stride, knowing that deep down (_very _deep down), she appreciated the gesture. Sakura just wasn't the kind of woman who set her emotions out on display, that's all.

"Where are we going?" She asked when they both slid into the car and buckled up.

"Have you ever seen the American movie 'Lost in Translation'?"

"Where that middle-aged actor has a thing for twenty-something Scarlett Johansson? I prosecute pedophiles, Syaoran."

He laughed. "I just asked you if you've seen it, not what you thought of it. But I'll take that as a no, right?"

"Right."

He grinned. "This is going to make you like surprises then."

They drove to the Park Hyatt Hotel in the Shinjuku district, where Syaoran took Sakura up to the 41st floor of the building. When the doors of the elevator slid open, she nearly gasped in delight. Floor-to-glass-ceiling views of the city and a lush growth of bamboo in the center of the floor greeted her, while the sound of soft jazz floated over. A thick crowd of people hung in the waiting area, but as soon as the maitre d' saw Syaoran, a look of recognition crossed his face and he made his way over.

"Li-san! It is good to see you."

Syaoran inclined his head slightly. "Kasanuki-san."

"Right this way."

They bypassed the mass of unfortunate people relegated to waiting for a coveted table, led by the waiter to a prime window spot overlooking the glittering cityscape. A paper washi lantern sat on the dark marble surface of the table, giving off a muted glow. Even though Sakura had been irritable earlier, the dimmed atmosphere of the lounge was enough to make her feel a little more…romantic.

"'The Peak Lounge,'" she read from the menu, "dull name for a nice place. Are you a regular here?"

"That, and I'm friends with the director of Hyatt's Japanese chain."

Sakura couldn't help but blurt out, "Is she a woman?"

Syaoran looked up. "No, but his wife is."

She didn't know what possessed her to ask _that _of all things.

_Guess the repressed memories are coming back to haunt me._

Syaoran wisely decided not to question the issue.

* * *

It was past midnight when Syaoran brought Sakura back to the apartment.

"Do you like surprises now?"

Instead of responding, Sakura turned and pressed a kiss to her boyfriend's lips in a sudden show of affection. Taken aback, but definitely not complaining, Syaoran leaned in to deepen it. A few moments later, they parted, breathing slightly labored.

"You know," she whispered, "tomorrow's a Saturday."

"What are you getting at?"

She smiled coyly. "Since you're here already, why not…spend the night?"

"And be subjected to your sadistic tendencies?"

"You've always taken your pleasure with a bit of pain," was her pert reply.

Syaoran seemed to ponder a moment. "Well..."

But he didn't have much time to think because Sakura, impatient and needing a fix _right then_, unlocked the door, grabbed his arm, and shoved him into the apartment. Dropping her purse and keys onto the table, she pounced on him.

"Hey!" He protested verbally, even though he allowed Sakura to unbutton his shirt. "You're trying to rape me again-"

"Shut up. You know you want it."

Syaoran sighed. "Yeah, I guess I do."

* * *

It was eleven in the morning when the door to Tomoyo's room opened, revealing a woman with messy black curls framing a scowling face. Her violet eyes half-lidded in both exhaustion and irascibility, she began walking to the kitchen, but was stopped halfway by a black shirt lying on the ground.

_What the hell is this? _

She glanced at the label.

_Armani. _

Grunting, she threw it back onto the floor and continued trudging to the kitchen.

"Can't even take their clothes off in the bedroom," she grumbled.

Heating up the water kettle, Tomoyo started to sit down at the table when the door to Sakura's room opened, revealing a shirtless Syaoran. His chestnut hair messier than ever, the evidence of a wild romp in the sack last night was apparent.

"Can't find your shirt?"

He jumped. Seeing that it was just Tomoyo, he calmed down.

"Yeah, did you happen to see it?"

She motioned to the black heap by the door.

"Thanks." He picked up the shirt and put it on, just as Sakura appeared in the doorway, dressed in a flimsy robe and her mouth wide open in a yawn.

"Are you leaving already?"

"Yeah, I have to go pick up some papers at the office. I need to finish them over the weekend. Dinner tomorrow?"

"Sure." She walked over to kiss him.

"I'll come pick you up. See you tomorrow."

She smiled contently. "Bye."

As the door closed, Sakura walked over to join Tomoyo at the table. Seeing the grim look on her friend's face, she frowned.

"Hey Tomoyo, what's wrong?"

She received no reply.

"Tomoyo? What's wrong? Tell me."

Her best friend took a deep breath. Then-

"_I GOT _NO_ DAMN SLEEP LAST NIGHT BECAUSE THE ENTIRE TIME, I HAD TO HEAR YOU AND SYAORAN THE NEXT ROOM OVER GOING AT IT LIKE RABBITS IN HEAT! DO YOU KNOW HOW _DISTRACTING_ IT IS TO HEAR YOU TWO?_"

Sakura cringed. "Tomoyo-"

"_I HAVE NEVER PUT YOU IN A POSITION LIKE THAT, SAKURA, NEVER! CAN YOU RECALL A TIME WHEN YOU LAID IN BED, TOSSING AND TURNING BECAUSE YOU HAD TO HEAR THE BEDSPRINGS SQUEAK LIKE CRAZY AND TWO PEOPLE MOAN AND GROAN ALL NIGHT? NO! I KNOW YOU AND SYAORAN'S HORMONES ARE OVERFLOWING BUT THAT'S NO EXCUSE! GO DO IT IN HIS OFFICE FOR ALL I CARE, HELL, GO DO IT ON THE SUBWAY IN FRONT OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE BUT DON'T YOU __EVER__, DO YOU HEAR ME KINOMOTO SAKURA, DON'T YOU _EVER_KEEP ME FROM GETTING MY BEAUTY SLEEP AGAIN!_"

Tomoyo's breath came out in such short, angry pants that for a moment, Sakura wondered if she had developed asthma in her excessive hyperventilation. Ever the resilient one however, Tomoyo eventually took to glaring at her roommate, who was currently frozen in shock, before standing up to turn off the now whistling kettle.

"On second thought," she said primly to a stunned Sakura, "don't do it in Syaoran's office because judging by what I heard last night, there is absolutely _no_ way that people won't hear you."

There was a long pause before Sakura cautiously ventured forth.

"How does that differ from doing it on the subway in front of millions of people?"

"I'M TRYING TO GIVE YOU ADVICE HERE MORON!" Tomoyo yelled.

Sakura gulped and unconsciously slid her chair backwards. There was boiling hot water in that kettle and she didn't want to take a morning shower just yet.

"Tomoyo, I am _so _sorry."

Tomoyo waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah, I forgive you. If he's good, he's good!" She stopped pouring the water into her cup of tea for a moment. "Is he really _that _good?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Why do you care?"

"If you were me, you'd be asking too." She said darkly. "Kami-sama, is he on Viagra or what?"

"Tomoyo!" Sakura yelled, "He's not 60 years old!"

Tomoyo shrugged. "Whatever." She sat back down at the table, a cup of hot tea in her hands. "Want some?" She asked, indicating the cup. Sakura shook her head. The two women sat there contently, a comfortable silence between them.

"Tomoyo?"

"Yeah?"

"I think the bedsprings are broken."

* * *

"So how is everything going with this new man in your life, Sakura?" Yelan asked, interest evident on her face.

"Wonderful," Sakura gushed.

Yelan's eyebrow shot up. As far as she knew, Kinomoto Sakura did not _gush_.

"Really…?"

"He's great. He takes me out to dinner, takes me out shopping, takes me to experience the art scene…" Sakura trailed off. "We're very...active."

Noticing the slight tilt of Sakura's head at the last sentence, Yelan nodded slowly. "I take it that there's a double meaning in that?"

Sakura smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess." She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially, "He's _really _good."

"Ahh...I see." Yelan grinned. "No wonder you're glowing."

Sakura laughed. "We went to the Peak Lounge on Friday and he spent the night at my apartment. Tomoyo blew her head off at me the next morning."

"Oh? But isn't she happy for you? She was the one who kept on saying you needed a man, both emotionally and physically."

"The physical part kept her up all night."

"Oh."

"And she wasn't any happier when I told her we had to buy a new mattress." Noting the puzzled expression on Yelan's face, Sakura clarified her words and said bluntly, "We broke the bedsprings while having sex."

"_Oh_."

Sakura looked at her watch. "I'm afraid I have to get going, Yelan. There's a meeting at the office in two hours and I have to stop by the Ralph Lauren Home store to pick up new sheets."

"Why?"

"My boyfriend says that the silk ones are too slippery."

* * *

**Sort of a filler chapter that I wanted to just get over with. Nothing much to say except...I think I'll post one more chapter before school starts and swamps me. Maybe two.  
**


	11. Revenge Gone Awry

**Eleven**

**Revenge Gone Awry**

It was another boring weekday and Syaoran and Sakura were having lunch at Takara. Syaoran had been surprised when he managed to convince his girlfriend to eat with him with relatively little effort-usually the woman put up the most _spectacular_ fight against being seen with him out in public (humiliating, that's what she called it)-but today, she relented without so much as a peep.

_Huh, _he thought, _must have been the other night that made her more appreciative of me. _

He gave a smug smile.

"What are you thinking about?"

Syaoran looked up to see Sakura staring at him inquisitively. He replied without hesitation: "You."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm flattered," she bit out.

Even the dullest of people could see that Sakura wasn't the slightest bit touched at Syaoran's words.

"You know," he remarked, "Tomoyo didn't look too happy that morning I was over."

Sakura's eyes didn't stray from her food as she took a sniff of a piece of sushi before popping it into her mouth, satisfied that it was fresh enough. "We kept her awake all night," she said after swallowing.

"We?" Syaoran peered at her over his food. "You mean you, right?"

Sakura glared. "What now, you want me to fawn over your sexual prowess?"

"Oh, you've voiced your pleasure many times already."

"Tomoyo thinks you take Viagra."

"_What_!?"

"What, was she right? Because if she is…hell, keep popping those pills! I don't care what you're on as long as it gives results!"

Syaoran grunted.

"But back to the matter at hand. Tomoyo forbids you to ever spend the night again."

"You're actually going to enforce that?" A lewd grin played on Syaoran's features and Sakura had to suppress the urge to slap it off his face.

"It's not that difficult," she snapped, "Don't think I need you to the point that I have to have you by my side every night."

"Hm, so is that an automatic 'no' to moving in with me?"

Sakura almost choked on her cup of tea. "W-what?" She gasped out.

Syaoran sighed. "Is there so much earwax in there that you didn't hear me the first time?"

"I didn't not hear you-"

"Then I don't need to repeat myself."

"You just asked me to move in with you!" Sakura cried. "When a person hears something disconcerting, it's understandable for them to question it!"

Syaoran frowned. "What's so distressing about moving in with me?"

"Have you fully contemplated the consequences of that action?"

"Yeah, there'd be more action."

"This is the one time where I'm agreeing with your lasciviousness..." Sakura muttered, "But if I move in with you, none of us will be getting _any _work done."

"So you're admitting that you can't keep your hands off me?" Syaoran said with an amused smile on his face.

"My hands weren't anywhere near you that night," Sakura said primly.

"Ah, you're right. I had you hold onto the bedpost, didn't I?"

Sakura said nothing, but she was using her chopsticks to stab her food with a little more force than necessary.

"That was fun, wasn't it?" Syaoran continued as though he didn't notice his girlfriend's vicious stabbing motions. "Say yes…" he chided, "you know you enjoyed it."

"I would have enjoyed it more if you went a little deeper." Sakura smiled cruelly. "But your assets don't exactly allow you to do that, do they?"

"It's not like my assets had much to work with," Syaoran retorted without missing a beat. "Plumbing a little stunted down there, _Sakura-chan_?"

There was a moment's silence in which Sakura did nothing but stare icily at her companion, her mouth set in a thin line.

"You're going to pay for that," she said quietly. Despite the low, almost _soothing _tone of her voice, Syaoran knew that it was just the proverbial calm before the storm. He would have been slightly unsettled if it wasn't for the fact that he liked the petty squabbles he and Sakura constantly had-it was stimulating, having a woman who was actually alive and kicking when provoked.

The corner of his lips tilted upwards. "I'll be looking forward to it."

* * *

"_Tonjiru_, _kakuni, _and _yakiniku._" Yelan set a pot of boiling hot soup and two dishes down on the center of the table, looking as immaculate as ever even though she had been working for two hours straight to prepare a meal worthy of a five star restaurant for Eriol and Tomoyo.

"Oh Yelan," Tomoyo sighed, "you didn't have to!"

"But I'm glad you did," Eriol grinned. "This looks delicious. No one makes _tonjiru _like you do Li-san."

Yelan smiled. "_Itadakimasu_!"

The three ate in silence. While Tomoyo and Eriol were busy enjoying their food, the wheels of Yelan's mind were turning restlessly, preventing her from being pleased with her handiwork. Syaoran had not come yet and because of it, Yelan wasn't able to probe him about the whole lawyer business. She was tired, irritated, and barely keeping it all in.

"Do you know where Syaoran is?" She asked, unable to refrain from asking what she had been wondering all evening. She thought she saw Eriol's shoulders tense, but perhaps her eyesight was slightly strained from peering too closely at her cooking for two hours. What could possibly be so suspicious about Syaoran's reason for not coming?

"He's…not feeling well," Eriol said lamely.

Yelan's eyebrow arched ever so slightly. "Oh?" she asked delicately. Now she knew that she didn't imagine the tightening of his shoulders.

"Thought he'd stay home instead and not infect us."

"How considerate of him…"

They resumed their dining quietly, Yelan pondering why Eriol seemed like he was covering something up. She stood up.

"I'll be right back," she said while smiling down at Eriol's slightly panicked expression. "I'm going to call Syaoran and see how he's doing."

"Li-san-"

"No no!" She sang. "After all the time and effort I put into making your food, please sit down and _savor _it."

Not giving Eriol a chance to protest, she flounced out of the room. Walking to her private office, she picked up the phone and dialed Syaoran's house number.

The phone rang four times before Syaoran's voice came on the line: "This is Li Syaoran. I'm not here right now so please leave your name and phone number and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you."

An electronic beep sounded and Yelan began speaking.

"Syaoran, it's your mother. Just calling to see how you were feeling since you couldn't make it tonight. Get better soon dear."

She replaced the receiver.

_He must be _really _sick if he's unable to pick up the phone_, she thought. Then another idea struck her.

_Or maybe he's just not home period.

* * *

_

It turned out Syaoran was neither sick nor not at his apartment. True, he wasn't feeling too peachy, but the reason for that was because he was currently tied to his bed-naked, hard, and frustrated _as hell_.

"What the _fuck _is with this, Sakura?" He growled, referring to the silk scarves binding his wrists to the bedposts. His girlfriend was sitting on the edge of the bed in nothing but a filmy black negligee, looking effortlessly sexy and extremely amused.

"This is for today."

Syaoran exploded. "You tied me up because we traded insults _like we always do_?"

"You insulted my vagina-no self-respecting woman would let that slide."

"_You insulted my penis_! How is ridiculing a man's phallus more legitimate than poking fun at a woman's vagina?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Because it's _my _vagina, that's why."

"Your sense of logic escapes me."

"Mm, yes, but you're not escaping to anywhere anytime soon." She smirked. "But I think Syaoran Junior is going to need that time to ah…_droop_."

She made to get up from the bed and leave but before she could do so, Syaoran's two unbound legs shot out and threaded through her own, causing her to stumble and fall on top of him.

"What are you doing!?" She shrieked indignantly.

"You think you can just leave me here like this?"

Sakura snorted. "Yeah, I think I can just leave you here like that."

She tried to disentangle herself from the position she was in but Syaoran's legs had her pinned steadfastly to him and as hard as she tried, she was unable to wrench herself out of his grip.

"Keep grinding against me like that and see if I'll ever let you go," he whispered huskily, his mouth against her ear.

"How…" she panted, "are you so strong?"

"I was trained in martial arts when I was a boy," Syaoran said conversationally, even as his mouth began to trail hot, open-mouthed kisses down Sakura's neck. She moaned.

"Fuck you," she ground out, "fuck you."

"Mm…" he murmured, "yes please."

* * *

They were sitting across from each other in their usual positions, Yelan sipping a cup of hot tea, Sakura sitting on the cushiony couch with her usual poker face.

"Are you and your boyfriend still going strong?" Yelan asked.

Sakura nodded. "Yes."

"Any sign of slowing down…?"

She snorted. "None at all."

Yelan blinked-Sakura had taken her question the wrong way. "Well, I didn't mean just sexually-"

But Sakura ignored her, continuing on her own train of thought. "The other day," She began.

"Yes…?"

"We were out at lunch."

"Continue…"

"And I can't remember exactly what we were discussing, something about that night he slept over and how we enraged Tomoyo. Whatever it was, we ended up trading witty banter like we always do and we made jabs at each other's…anatomy."

Yelan shook her head. "Men are very sensitive about their manhood."

"Apparently not as much as I am about my womanhood."

Yelan looked at her blankly.

"I ended up tying him to the bed because the joke he made about my vagina infuriated me."

Yelan's jaw dropped. "You didn't…"

Sakura smiled. "I did. And I did it with the full intention of leaving him there to rot but I didn't tie up his legs and just as I was getting up, he somehow maneuvered me onto him with his lower body."

Yelan stared at her intently. "What happened?"

Sakura sighed. "Well…I didn't end up leaving, that's for sure."

They shared a long laugh before both of them lapsed into a comfortable silence. Sakura was the first to break it.

"Yelan?"

"Hm?"

"It was _amazing_."

* * *

**So I changed the lime scene a little-the old one was a little...risqué. Didn't really match the tone, I thought.**


	12. Expect the Unexpected

**Here is quite possibly one of my absolute favorite scenes that I have ever written: the Sex and the City-esque conversation between Sakura and friends. And, I've been wanting to write the scene at the end of this chapter for a long time and I've finally done it. Enjoy!

* * *

**

**Twelve**

**Expect the Unexpected**

Looks, Sakura decided, were incredibly deceiving. Though she had figured this fact out long ago (as a lawyer she had had plenty of nasty surprises when the jurors she selected turned out to be more than she bargained for), it never ceased to stun her when it rang true.

Like right now. Whoever knew that Daidouji Tomoyo-yes, the sweet, angelic, divinely ethereal fairy-creature who was forever smiling gently and speaking softly-had a temper that rivaled a spoiled five year old child's when things didn't go her way?

"You are going to do _what_?" Miss Jekyll-and-Hyde hissed. Though Sakura had dealt with many menacing people in her career as a prosecutor, from six feet tall wife beaters to sick and twisted serial killers, no one frightened her more than her own best friend. She unconsciously took a step backwards at the livid expression on Tomoyo's usually exquisite face.

"Um…move out?"

"Move out." Tomoyo stated flatly.

"Yes," Sakura affirmed, furiously nodding her head.

"Where?"

"Syaoran's place, he asked me to move in with him."

"So you're leaving me?"

Sakura knew she was digging her own grave by satirizing the situation, however mildly, but the sarcastic side of her was just _itching_ to be let out.

"I'd take you along with me," she began slowly, "but as liberal as I am in bed, I'm afraid threesomes just aren't my thing."

She ended up paying the repairman to fix the three-inch dent to the wall. Deciding that she was never going to get Tomoyo vases again, Sakura successfully relocated to Syaoran's place-albeit laboriously, considering that her best friend refused to help her ship a number of boxes a good couple of miles over.

_And here I am, _Sakura thought as she walked into the restaurant Ahill, _making it up to her by buying her lunch. _

"Alone, miss?" The waiter at the entrance asked.

She shook her head. "I'm meeting friends."

Not friend singular, but friends plural. Sakura had purposefully invited three of hers and Tomoyo's mutual acquaintances in case the latter decided that she didn't care to behave herself in public if it meant she could give Sakura a good slap to the cheek.

"Are you Kinomoto-san?"

"Yes."

"Follow me please."

She dutifully trailed after the waiter as he threaded through the numerous tables, all occupied, to the back of the restaurant where four women were grouped around a table by a window overlooking the busy streets of Tokyo's Ginza district. Dressed in either sharp business suits or haute couture with their hair carefully coiffed and their make-up applied flawlessly, they looked like a group of elitists who were out for a power luncheon. Only Sakura saw them as who they truly were: busy women taking rare time off to get together with childhood friends.

There was Yanagisawa Naoko, the bestselling author. With stylish black frames perched in front of light brown eyes and similarly colored hair cut in a trendy geometric bob, Naoko was incredibly imaginative…but also incredibly gullible. Always getting duped by the cunning, she had become one of Sakura's regular clients because of the number of legal spats she got herself into.

There was Sasaki Rika, the owner of a successful patisserie. With large doe eyes and short, wavy hair, both the color of a rich mahogany brown, Sasaki Rika had always been the warm, compassionate one of the group. Effortlessly elegant and mature beyond her years, it wasn't surprising that she was the only one of the five to have married.

And then there was Mihara Chiharu, the advertising executive. Bubbly and energetic, Chiharu had also been on the cheerleading squad with Sakura and Naoko. Though she was Sakura's opposite in personality, Chiharu shared two things in common with the former: an appreciation for the fine art of sarcasm and a false front of being a misandrist.

As Sakura tried to discreetly sit in the seat farthest away from Tomoyo, who was unnervingly silent, she was welcomed by a barrage of female voices coming at her from all directions.

"Late as always, Sakura," Naoko remarked.

"But you made it and that's what counts," Rika pointed out.

"Are you trying to avoid Tomoyo?" Chiharu said bluntly, seeing through Sakura's intentions. The latter sighed.

"I know you three have missed me but _please_, one at a time!"

"Am I part of the three?" Tomoyo asked waspishly, earning a look of disbelief from Sakura.

"I'm not a shrink, I wouldn't know what's going on in that vicious mind of yours."

"Oh Sakura," Chiharu scoffed, "Tomoyo's had two days to cool off."

"And," Rika added, her eyes twinkling, "she's been having a visitor for those past two days."

Sakura rounded on her best friend. "And you get mad when _I _spend time with my boyfriend?"

"He's been consoling me," Tomoyo snapped.

Chiharu snorted. "_Physical _consolation is the more exact term, I believe."

"_You two finally made a homerun_!?"

"I have more restraint than you do," Tomoyo sniffed.

"When you hold back from having sex with your significant other," Chiharu stated in a textbook-like manner, "that means he or she is lacking in the bedroom."

Tomoyo's face turned red with anger at the undisguised jab to Eriol's skill in bed as her friends laughed.

"No it doesn't!" She sputtered. "Eriol is quite-"

"Tell us this," Chiharu cut in. "If Sakura was still there, would she have been kept awake all night by you two, just like when she and Syaoran didn't allow you to sleep that one time?"

Sakura's eyes nearly popped out of her head. "Tomoyo told you that!?" She yelped.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about Sakura," Rika said good-naturedly. "Sex is the most natural thing in the world."

"It's not natural when your _best friend _abandons you for it," Tomoyo growled.

"I did not _abandon _you," Sakura snarled, "stop using extreme heavy adjectives. I really don't know why you're complaining anyway since you and Eriol finally hooked up."

"C'mon Tomoyo," Chiharu chided, "give Sakura a break. It's not everyday that a sex god comes your way."

"Eriol's good but I wouldn't have moved out if I was in Sakura's position!"

"Then Eriol's not as good as Syaoran."

Tomoyo slammed her cup of tea down, splashing the fragrant liquid everywhere. "Chiharu! That's enough about my boyfriend's talents in bed!"

"Why the defensiveness?"

Before Tomoyo could reach over and strangle Chiharu, Sakura intervened. "I moved out so we could avoid any further incidents like that night when you couldn't go to sleep!" She said loudly. "Besides, Syaoran's bedsprings are…sturdier."

Naoko's head whipped towards her. "What?"

"They broke the bed," Tomoyo said dryly. "I thought I told you, Naoko."

"Why have you been telling everyone everything!?" Sakura wailed.

"We shelled out a couple hundred to buy a new mattress," Tomoyo continued, ignoring her livid cousin. "What a waste-Sakura's not even here to sleep on it anymore."

"Save it for yourself!" Sakura spat. "If Eriol's as good as you're saying he is then you'll need that mattress soon."

"If you don't want it I'll take it."

The women ceased their talking to look at the speaker, a look of stunned disbelief on their faces.

"What?" Rika asked, her face a picture of innocence.

"Were you trying to imply anything when you said you'll take the mattress?" Chiharu choked out.

Rika shrugged. "We get passionate." Seeing several jaws drop and bulging eyes, she looked at her friends quizzically. "If we're so open about our sex lives, I'm sure there's nothing shocking about Yoshiyuki and me doing it."

"W-well," Naoko sputtered, "it's just that you and Terada-sensei are-"

"What?"

"Like the couples from those American Disney movies," Tomoyo finished for her. "You know, damsel-in-distress princess saved by a handsome knight-in-shining-armor prince followed by a long-awaited kiss and a ride off into the sunset? Very sweet and _innocent_?"

Rika blinked. "No."

Sakura was the first to get over the revelation. "You know what they say; it's the quietest ones you have to watch out for."

"Says the acid-tongued bitch who tied her man down to the bed and tried to leave him there."

Everybody's attention turned to Sakura, who had taken to looking up at the ceiling, a passive look on her face. The only sign that she was beyond fury was the way her left hand was gripping the tea cup so tightly that a crack had started to form.

"How kinky," Chiharu breathed.

"I'd have to say that's not as kinky as Tomoyo using whipped cream and cinnamon," Naoko said tritely, an uncharacteristically devious smirk on her face.

A collective gasp went around the table.

"Oh Tomoyo!"

"Ooh, what's it like Tomoyo?"

"And you say I'm into freaky shit," Sakura said tartly.

Seeing no way out of answering her friends' eager questions, Tomoyo relented. "Sweet and spicy," she offered.

Chiharu sighed. "I expected as much. So back to this tying Syaoran down business…"

Sakura groaned. "C'mon, I just tied him down to the bed, got him aroused, tried to leave, but failed. End of story!"

There was a cough from behind the five women. Sakura froze.

"Um, do you ladies need more time to decide?" The waiter asked, an uncomfortable look on his face.

Sakura could feel her face turn an alarming shade of red.

_Shit._

"Oh no," Tomoyo said brightly, satisfied that her roommate finally got the punishment she deserved. "I'm ready to order. Let me have this mocha frappucino thing with lots of whipped cream and some cinnamon sprinkled on top please."

* * *

The notorious female lawyer seemed to have dropped out of the picture. Through her daily phone calls to Miyazaki Sasara, Yelan had found that the woman hadn't made another appearance at Entia Corp.

"You're fighting a losing battle there, Yelan," Sasara said.

She sighed. "You think?"

"You keep on pursuing a matter on nothing but gut instinct. Granted, your sixth sense for things is usually right, but let's look at the evidence, shall we? Female lawyer comes to Entia Corp and Syaoran behaves strangely about it yes, but female lawyer never comes back either and Eriol says that Syaoran is not dating anyone. Am I missing anything here?"

"He didn't come to dinner that one night."

"So? He was sick."

"I called his house and nobody picked up."

"_He was sick_."

"Or maybe he wasn't home at all because he was on a date!"

"Did you call his cell phone?"

Yelan blinked. "No, I didn't…totally forgot he had that."

Sasara made an exasperated noise. "Then you can't confirm that he was on a date."

"Kami, have I gotten so old that I can't keep up with the times anymore?" There was a mournful tone to Yelan's voice that made Sasara sigh.

"Yelan, I know you're eager to see Syaoran get married but just…let it go. He's a grown man, he can take care of himself. He'll know when the time's right."

"But he's gone through strings of women already and none of them were right!"

"Have you ever thought that maybe it's _you _who's the problem?"

"Excuse me?" Yelan said coldly.

"You're the ever-present mother who's forever sticking her nose into other people's business. Maybe you should just take it easy and back off."

"I'm a therapist, Sasara, it's my job to stick my nose into other people's business!"

"Not when they don't pay you to," Sasara pointed out.

"This is ridiculous. I'm just looking out for Syaoran's welfare, not meddling in his affairs."

Sasara took a heavy breath on the other line. "If you say so then…"

Yelan slammed the phone down with more force than necessary. She was not "sticking her nose" into Syaoran's business; she was just playing the part of a good mother and watching his back! What was wrong with making sure that his love life was on track? Yes, she was already a grandmother a couple times over thanks to her four daughters, but she had yet to have a grandchild who carried the last name of Li. She'd be damned if she died before it happened.

_But Sasara's right, _she thought. _Maybe I am looking the wrong way and the lawyer's just a fluke._

So why were her instincts protesting?

* * *

The first thing Syaoran said when Sakura came through the door of his apartment was, "You look exhausted."

"I am," she said tiredly.

"You know how I know that?"

She rubbed her eyes wearily. "How?"

"Because if you weren't you'd snap at me in response," he chortled. When Sakura glared at him, he grinned back in response. "There's my girl."

She plopped onto the couch, not caring that she was wrinkling her meticulously ironed pantsuit. Several minutes later Syaoran emerged from the kitchen, two bowls of ice cream in his hands. Sitting down next to his girlfriend, he handed one over.

"How considerate of you," Sakura muttered, accepting it gratefully.

"The perks of living with me," he smiled. Sakura grunted.

"Got hell from Tomoyo for it."

"Did she not behave herself at lunch today?" Syaoran asked.

"If you mean no physical violence then yes, she behaved herself."

Syaoran nodded in understanding. "I see…she took a leaf out of your book and verbally assaulted you, didn't she?"

"Don't make me more irritated than I already am, _sweetheart_."

Syaoran backed off.

"I can't go out to lunch tomorrow."

"Why not?"

"I have an appointment with my therapist."

Syaoran looked at her incredulously. "You have a shrink?"

Sakura frowned. "Yeah, so? It's not like I'm invincible."

He snorted. "Could've fooled me."

"One of these days I'm going to sew your mouth shut," Sakura growled.

"You'd just be torturing yourself if you did so," Syaoran said lightly.

"Why would I be the one suffering?"

When Sakura saw the glittering of Syaoran's amber eyes, she instantly regretted her question.

"The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue, didn't you know?"

* * *

It was half an hour before Sakura's lunch break and she was busy typing away at the computer when Syaoran unexpectedly dropped by her office.

"What're you doing here?" She asked, surprised.

"Have you eaten yet?" Syaoran asked, ignoring her.

"No, but-"

"Let's go."

Sakura looked at him disdainfully. "Excuse me?"

"You can't go through a shrink session on an empty stomach."

She laughed derisively. "You'd think that by dating me you'd know that I can do a lot of things most people can't do."

But Syaoran had already reached over, pressed a key on the keyboard, and effectively put her computer into hibernation mode. One hand grabbing her purse and coat, the other pulling her out of her chair, he dragged her bodily from the room.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sakura hissed, trying to free her hand from Syaoran's grasp without everyone noticing. When the people they passed in the hallway began to cast her strange looks, she ceased her futile struggling and smiled sweetly at her co-workers.

"We're going out to lunch," he replied, "have you not figured that out already?"

"I have, but-"

"No buts."

Recognizing that Syaoran was in one of his modes where nothing would be able to change his mind from doing what he wanted to do, Sakura sighed and resigned herself to getting in the car with him. Though she had mountains of paperwork to finish and there was much to do before her appointment with Yelan, even she couldn't deny how considerate it was of Syaoran to take her out to lunch.

"How far is the restaurant?" She asked, mentally calculating how much time she had to eat before rushing back.

"Not far…"

"Why are you heading towards the airport?"

"It's in the area," was Syaoran's flippant reply.

When he finally stopped the car, it was in the overnight parking garage of the airport. Sakura barely noticed, too busy thinking of her crammed schedule. But when Syaoran lead her into the airport and towards security, she began to get suspicious.

"Syaoran, most restaurants aren't located beyond the security checkpoints."

"This one is."

Because there were so few people and they had nothing on them, they whizzed past the guards and the electronic devices in less than five minutes. After putting his shoes back on, Syaoran continued his quick pace towards the airport terminals, Sakura trailing after him in confusion.

"Syaoran, what is going on-"

They ended up stopping at one of the gates. Through the large bay windows Sakura could see a parked plane, which, according to the overhead sign, was going to depart for Paris, France in less than ten minutes.

_I wish I was there right now, _she thought wistfully.

"Just in time, Li-san."

A foreign male voice snapped Sakura out of her thoughts. Seeing that they were in front of the open gate and an airline steward handing two ticket stubs back to Syaoran, comprehension finally dawned on Sakura.

"I thought…" she said slowly, "you were taking me out to lunch."

Syaoran turned around and grinned boyishly at her.

"I am. In Paris."

* * *

**I may have missed a few things in the Yelan/Sasara conversation. I did go back and reread my stuff to make sure there aren't any plot holes but you never know...**


	13. The Last Piece of the Puzzle

**Yes, I'm alive. It's Christmas break and though I still have priorities, in general it's safe to say that things have slowed down a little.**

**_La petite amie _means girlfriend in French, according to the online dictionary.

* * *

**

**Thirteen**

**The Last Piece of the Puzzle**

"Li-san, there's a caller on line one."

Yelan nodded at her secretary in acknowledgement and picked up the phone. "Li Yelan."

A burst of static hit her ear. "Yelan? It's Sakura."

"Oh hello dear—where in the world are you? What is wrong with your phone?"

Sakura laughed. "You won't believe where I'm headed right now, Yelan."

"Where?"

"My boyfriend's taking me to Paris!" Sakura squealed, worsening the crackling of the static.

Yelan sputtered. "R-right now?"

"Right now!" She giggled with childish delight. "He paid me an unexpected visit at the office, told me he was taking me out to lunch, and ended up dragging me to the airport. We just boarded—the plane will be taking off in a couple of minutes so I have to get off the phone very soon."

"How romantic! I assume that you won't be coming in to see me then?"

"I'd love to, but I'm afraid that I'm dying of hunger. I'll see you in a couple of days?"

"I'll put you in. Have a lovely time and give your boyfriend my regards."

"Will do. Bye!"

Yelan set the phone down but as soon as she did, the button alerting her to a call flashed again.

"Li-san, someone else is on the phone!" Her secretary called.

"Kami, what's going on today?" Yelan shouted. "Phone-the-shrink day?" She lifted the receiver and fought to keep her voice neutral.

"Li Yelan."

"Mom?"

"Syaoran!" Instantly her tone changed. "I've been trying to reach you for _days_. How are you? What are you doing? Are you feeling better? How—?"

Syaoran chuckled. "Slow down there, Mom. You're too young to have a heart attack."

"Then don't scare me like this anymore, Syaoran!" Yelan snapped. "Do you know how worried I've been these past couple of weeks? You haven't returned my calls, you didn't come to dinner that one night…Eriol told me you were ill but I didn't know that it was so severe that you couldn't even call to tell me! Kami, when I see you—"

As his mother rambled on, Syaoran tried to place everything she had said. He vaguely remembered something about a dinner—Eriol was talking to her about it that one night they stayed late at the office and his mother had left a message about it on his voicemail—but as far as he knew, he hadn't gotten sick in the past couple of months. Why would Eriol tell his mother that?

_Whatever. _

It wasn't that big of a deal. Maybe he had been with Sakura at the time and Eriol was just trying to cover up for him so his mother didn't get suspicious. Syaoran snorted.

_So he _is _good for something. _

"Sir?"

Syaoran turned to see one of the cabin stewards talking to him.

"If you could please turn off your cell phone and return to your seat, we will be taking off shortly."

"Oh, sorry." He gave the man an apologetic smile before returning to the one-sided conversation with his mother.

"—Are you overworking yourself again, Syaoran? Because stress weakens the immune system and can cause you to fall ill. Are you drinking orange juice? Getting some vitamin C? What about that herbal drink that I sent you—"

Syaoran cleared his throat. "Mom."

"—it's really effective. Drink it whenever you feel the slightest itch in your throat and it'll kill the virus right away. Do you still have it at your house? If not, I can tell Wei to order some from the mainland. It should take about—"

"_Mom_…"

"—but until Wei gets that shipped to you just rely on orange juice, okay? It's still the best way to prevent any nasty infections and—"

"Mom!" Syaoran said loudly, finally cutting Yelan off in her long-winded, breathless monologue.

"What?"

"I'd love to keep talking to you but I'm on a plane right now and it's about to take off."

"Y-y-you're _where_!?" Yelan shrieked.

"I'm going to Paris for business. It's short—I should be back in a couple of days."

"Why do you need to go that far?" Yelan wailed. "What's so important that you have to do it yourself?"

Syaoran sighed. "Because it's my company Mom, and I have to take responsibility."

"But you were sick! You just recovered!"

"I'm _fine_."

By this time, the steward from earlier had returned and was now frowning at Syaoran with undisguised annoyance.

"Sir…"

Syaoran gave a weak chuckle. "I'm so sorry…Mom? I have to go."

"B-but—!"

"I love you too. Bye!"

Snapping his phone shut, Syaoran smiled at the steward. "My mother."

Seeing that the man did not share his cheer, Syaoran quickly walked away from the bathroom area and returned to his seat.

"That was a long conversation," Sakura said lightly as Syaoran plopped down and buckled his seatbelt.

"My mother," he said shortly.

"Aww…how sweet. You keep in touch with your mommy!"

"Did you call your therapist?" Syaoran asked, ignoring Sakura's derisive cooing.

"Yeah. She says to give you her regards for doing something as romantic as taking me to Paris for lunch."

"Tell her it's because _la petite amie _has a stick up her ass and this is the only way to get it out."

Two minutes later, Syaoran's favorite steward arrived to investigate a disturbance in the first class cabin.

* * *

"_I'm going to Paris for business. It's short—I should be back in a couple of days."_

Yelan was fuming. She didn't know what made her angrier: the fact that Syaoran called after weeks of virtually no contact just to tell her that he was leaving the country to go to Paris—or the fact that he was leaving the country to go to Paris.

_What matter would require him to fly all the way over to France but only take a couple of days to sort out? _

It just didn't make sense to Yelan that Syaoran, the company _president_ and _chief executive officer_, had to go to _Paris_, of all places, to take care of something that was apparently too little to require nothing more than a couple of days to figure out.

_Let's call someone who would know._

Picking up the phone, Yelan punched a couple of numbers. On the third ring, someone answered.

"Entia Corporation, this is Miyazaki Sasara."

"Get me Syaoran's schedule," Yelan commanded.

Sasara _tsk_ed. "Aren't we demanding today. What do you need to know?"

"Why the hell he's going to Paris."

"Ah, yes. I was going to tell you about that later today because it seemed so random."

"Is he going over there to finalize some deal with the French? An international business leaders' conference? Prospective merger? Potential takeover opportunity?"

"There are no European deals at the current moment. The next conference is in the United States in a couple of months. As far as I know, there is no talk of any mergers or lucrative businesses to absorb. But of course, I am just a lowly secretary and wouldn't know everything about the last two."

"So why would he be going to Paris if nothing's going on with the company?" Yelan snarled.

"Oh, who knows," Sasara said airily. "Maybe he and that phantom lawyer are having a lover's tryst in the city of _looooove_," she sang.

"Oh stop being ridiculous, Sasara," Yelan snapped. "You sound drunk—"

She stopped.

_Lawyer._

_Lover's tryst._

_City of love._

"Yelan? Are you still there?"

"I need to go." Without waiting to hear Sasara's reply, Yelan hung up.

How often was it that your patient and your son were headed to the same destination at the same time?

"_You said she was cold? Imperious?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Do you remember what the woman looked like?"_

"_Auburn hair, green eyes. Very fine, delicate features—pretty young thing."_

"_My boyfriend's taking me to Paris!"_

"_I'm going to Paris for business. It's short—I should be back in a couple of days."_

She should have known. She even entertained the thought once, thinking that Sasara's description fit Sakura perfectly. But really, it was the last part that was the dead giveaway. It was the last part that sealed the deal. So what if Sakura's firm, Nakamura, Itou, and Kinomoto, wasn't handling any cases for Entia Corp? So what if Eriol said Syaoran wasn't dating anyone and Sasara couldn't come up with evidence to contradict it? Law firm partners could keep cases hidden from each other. Syaoran could close off the loophole that was Eriol. Syaoran wouldn't do something as stupid as carry out an affair in front of Sasara's watchful eyes. As far as Yelan could see, all the facts going against her hypothesis could be disregarded…and all the facts supporting her hypothesis were irrefutable.

_Business my ass…_

"Reina!" Yelan called. Moments later, her secretary appeared in the doorway.

"Yes, Li-san?"

"I need you to find out how many flights departed to Paris from Narita within the last couple of minutes."

"Direct or transfer?"

"Direct." Syaoran always liked getting straight down to business.

As her secretary hurried away, Yelan found herself filled with jitters. All that work pursuing a cold trail, and now she had finally arrived at the moment of truth. She always knew that there was something fishy about that lawyer. Sasara had scoffed at her, saying she was being petty, but Yelan knew Syaoran like no one else did—as any mother would her son. Syaoran may have dated bimbos from time to time, but in the end he was an intelligent man and like most intelligent men, he was attracted to intelligent women. Cold, imperious, a lawyer…how could he resist that? No doubt she would brush him off and Syaoran, who had never been denied, would be driven into a more fervent passion. And Sakura, with her tendency to always shy away from something initially, would cause him to fall into that frenzy.

Syaoran had to be involved with that lawyer.

And Sakura had to be that lawyer.

The puzzle was close to completion. Now all Yelan needed was the last piece.

"Li-san?"

In her tenseness, Yelan found she could barely breathe. "Did you find out?"

"Yes. I checked the entire list of departures within the last half hour."

"And?"

"There was only one flight to Paris, direct or transfer. It took off about ten minutes ago."

_One flight to Paris._

_Took off about ten minutes ago._

"_We just boarded—the plane will be taking off in a couple of minutes…"_

"_I'd love to keep talking to you but I'm on a plane right now and it's about to take off."_

Sakura and Syaoran were on the same plane.

Kinomoto Sakura and Li Syaoran were on the same plane.

Kinomoto Sakura, the patient who had been doing unmentionable things to and with her boyfriend, was on the same plane as Li Syaoran, Yelan's son.

And as realization finally dawned on Yelan, the full impact of the discovery she had just made understood, the world came crashing down.

* * *

**I cranked this chapter out in two days. It's 2:03 am right now and my brain has turned into mush. So forgive me if this chapter seemed too sudden, too rushed, illogical...whatever. I decided it was time to FINALLY let Yelan find out. I checked it over and over to make sure there were no plot holes and that everything made sense and flowed but you never know. If you catch anything, PLEASE tell me so I can go back and fix it. That was one of my big pet peeves with the old version, the fact that I wasn't tying up loose ends. **


End file.
